We're Moving!!

Yes, crazy right? Well, we are so excited and thrilled that the Lord has opened the door for us to move to a larger apartment before our second daughter is born! We moved into our current apartment when we got married, almost three years ago. It has been a wonderful place to enjoy as a couple and to start our family in. All of our married memories are in this home. We love it and it will always hold a very dear spot in our hearts.

However, 500 sq ft only stretches so far when you start adding children into the mix! :-)

We have desired to move before now but every time we "tested the waters," the Lord would close the doors and continue to call us to contentment in our current place. I'll admit, some days have been harder than others when seeking to be satisfied in what God had provided for us. Yet, God has been so gracious to teach us many valuable lessons while living here. I am so thankful for these past three years as we've learned to grow closer as a husband and wife. :-)

With the addition of baby number two on the way, we batted around the desire, once again, to have a larger place. Yet, with our commitment to keep me home with the girls and live on one income, plus put Kyle through school, it just didn't seem feasible. Little did we know then that God had a big surprise in store for us.

About three weeks ago, I decided to start crunching numbers on our budget (yes, I'm that nerd who likes doing stuff like that!) and just see if there was any way that we could make it happen. There was one apartment option in my mind that I was thinking of. As I began to play with figures I got excited and began to share with Kyle my findings. There are some apartments super close to the seminary where Kyle works full time and goes to school. (I'm not sharing the specific name for internet safety... :-) As we chatted about the possibility we agreed to check into the option. Once again we prayed for God's will to be done. The next day Kyle called me from work to say that he had talked with an apartment manager and that they could show us an apartment that day!

Long story short, here we are, three weeks later, packing up to move a week from tomorrow!! (And for the record, I'll be 34 weeks pregnant!!! Ahhh... Haha!) There are SO many little stories I could tell of God's faithfulness and provision during this process. He has opened every door and even added in a couple of surprises along the way that have blessed us so greatly! During this time He has taught us in new and various ways to trust Him continually!

We are so excited to be living up near the seminary campus where I can take the girls on long walks, go to their pool, use their gym, have Daddy home for lunch each day, etc... It's really a dream come true for us to have a bigger place. Especially for Kyle to have an office to study in each night!

I'm always blown away at how God calls us to be faithful and content in our circumstances and then He surprises us with wonderful blessings that make us stand in awe of how amazing He is! :-) He is truly great!

As we finish packing up this week and start saying goodbye to our current apartment I'm sure many sweet and wonderful memories will come to mind (i.e. returning from our honeymoon to our first home together, bringing our daughter home from the hospital, learning to serve others from our little home and with what we have, etc...).

Before I got too many boxes packed, I snapped a few pictures so we could remember this home. Here are a few for you to share with us:



Our living and dining room. I will always love this big window!!








View of our living/dining room from the kitchen doorway. You'll notice the early stage of our packing boxes near the front door. :-)



My little kitchen where I learned to cook as a wife and mommy.



Please forgive the drying dishes on the counter. :-)



Our bathroom



Abigail's room (with baby sister's crib mattress against the wall. Haha... Sorry!)



Our bedroom... This was after we had put the second crib and changing table in our room, thinking we were staying here. :-)

I am so thankful for this wonderful home that God gave us and for my incredible husband who works so super hard to provide for us and who allows me to stay home! I respect him so much for his commitment in this area. This blesses me more than he will ever know! :-) I love you, Babe!

We are so looking forward to the new memories we will make as a family of four in our new apartment! We also hope to use it as a ministry tool to serve others as we welcome them in and seek to show hospitality. May we be found faithful in this area.

Family Day

Today we decided to spend the afternoon out as a family and do some things that Abigail would enjoy. What kid wouldn't love lunch and playing at Chickfila and then visiting a pet store to see animals? :-) In fact, today was the first day that Abigail hardly wanted to eat much and then was ready to get down and go play. She's quickly learning how it works! ;-)



At the pet store, Abigail enjoyed seeing all the birds, fish, and puppies. I enjoyed taking pictures of her and Daddy! ;-)


Looking at puppies.



Pretty birds! She loved to hear them chirp.






I just love this photo!!! So sweet! Kyle is a wonderful Daddy!






Turtles!



Abigail got to watch 3 dogs being bathed and she just loved this retriever! He was being toweled off at the door and she didn't want to leave him. She cried when I finally picked her up and carried her away. I'm excited to one day be able to get her a dog when we have a backyard! She will love it!

A Little Update

Today has been a day of much rest and relaxing for this Mama. Last night I hardly slept as I tossed and turned in bed; back aching, stomach aching miserably, cramps, etc... We're still not exactly sure what all has been going on but think it is the mix of either food poisoning or a little bug upsetting my tummy and making me sick, plus overdoing it this past week and weekend.
When you have an energetic toddler (and you babysit a 5 month old baby full time), it's hard to get in the rest that a pregnant mother's body is screaming for. However, after this weekend of increased cramping and soreness, Kyle and I have realized that I need to take a few steps back, cut out a few things from my schedule, and focus on keeping this baby warm and cozy in my belly for the next 11 weeks.

With that bring said, I'm looking forward to scheduling in some lazy mornings at the park with Abigail, once the weather warms up again, and lots of relaxing mommy/daughter time before our family's world is rocked (especially Abigail's!) with the addition of sweet baby girl #2! I want to really savor these last few weeks of being able to devote most of my time and attention to Abigail and yet also try to help her cultivate an excitement for baby sister and the changes she will bring. I know that her little 14 month old mind cannot grasp baby sister's arrival but she does LOVE her baby dolls, walking around holding them on her shoulder, patting their backs, and saying "day-dee" with a big grin. So I think I will start to let her put her babies into the bouncer, crib, etc... to hopefully help her begin to grasp the concept of a baby in the house.

I have been so thankful for the last couple of months when I've had the opportunity to babysit a friend's little boy full time! I believe it has really helped Abigail get used to having a baby around as well as helped me see what life with two children is like. :-) Our friends are moving in a couple of weeks to take a pastoring job in another state though, so I will no longer be caring for their baby. He has been such a sweet little guy and we've loved getting to know him!
Abigail especially enjoys having him around! She loves to sit on his playmat next to him and hand him toys, his paci, etc... The first day she ever saw him blow raspberries was priceless! She looked up at me with a huge grin, as if to say "Did you see that, Mommy? That's so cool!!!" haha... She's in for a fun experience of being an older sister. I think she will do great and be this Mommy's little helper! I'm so grateful that we had a little girl first. :-)

Well, I better get to bed. I'm so very grateful for my sweet, caring hubby who took today off work so that he could help me while feeling sick! He is amazing and so loving! I could not be more blessed by the husband that God sovereignly chose to give me! I love you, Baby!!

Baby Update

So, with Abigail I updated my blog basically every single week while pregnant. Ha! :-) With this sweet, precious girl, I think this may only be my second or third post. Now I totally understand why my parents have way more photos of my older brother when he was a child than they have of me... good 'ol second borns! :-)

For the record, we are 27 weeks, 5 days along.

This pregnancy is not only flying by, but by God's grace, it has been a fairly easy/textbook few months. I had morning/day sickness up through 12 weeks, felt great during my second trimester, and now as we're about to enter our third trimester on Saturday, my only struggles are my exhaustion levels (which have shot up in the last 2-3 weeks) and my daily hip pain. I am so, so thankful for how much God has poured out His grace upon me during this time!

Our baby girl definitely moves around daily but I wouldn't say she is an excessive mover. In fact, her heartbeat has been consistently much lower than Abigail's ever was at our appointments (which made us think prior to our ultrasound that she just had to be a boy! haha). I am very interested to see what her personality is like and if she is more laid back than Abigail. :-)

Our next appointment, on Valentine's Day, will be when I take my glucose test and it will also mark our transition in appointments to when I start seeing our midwives every 2 weeks, versus every month. This is a big appointment because it just shows how much closer we are to her birth! Yay! The thought of having a second little girl is so exciting for both Kyle and I!

I know Abigail is going to be a great big sister and just love her baby sister so much! It's fun to watch her interact with the little 5 month old boy that I nanny in our home. She just loves to sit next to him and read a book or bring him a toy or try to give him his paci. It's just adorable! Today, she saw him blow raspberries for the first time ever and she looked up at me with a huge grin. She thought he was doing something so cool! Haha... Of course, I have to keep a sharp eye on her around little babies because he zeal to love and nurture them as a little mommy sometimes gets the best of her! I was with a friend a few days ago and she had placed her little 4 month old baby girl on the couch while we were working on something. A minute later, we glanced over just in time to see Abigail pulling the baby down on the couch and about to try and pick her up around her waist and carry her like her baby doll! As we rushed to rectify the situation, both of us moms just burst out laughing! Abigail just loves those "da-dees"! It makes my heart melt!

Sorry I don't have any recent baby bump pictures to show you. I need to take some soon and post them. However, for now, I hope this updates finds you each doing well. Have a great day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So I know this is late and that while in Texas I dropped the ball on my "thankfulness" posts. I'm so sorry! I would like to extend a late "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone from our family and share a few photo highlights from our trip to Texas to see my side of the family. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed making many wonderful memories.

 Our wonderful extended family... Four Generations... So thankful for this heritage!

The Oliver/Roland side of the family.

Our little Roland Family

 Us with my Grandparents... We are so blessed with every opportunity we have to spend with these two godly, dear people!

Abigail sitting on the little couch her Grammie recovered for her. So cute!

 I love seeing all the little great-grandchildren playing with my grandparents! Such a sweet time!

Abigail's 1st Birthday Party!

What a joy it is to celebrate our baby girl's first birthday! Even though her "big day" isn't until November 25th, we celebrated here in Kentucky with our friends a little early because we will be out of town on her actual birthday. Abigail loved having some of her sweet little friends over to enjoy celebrating with her. They were so cute playing around together.

We were blessed to be able to use our apartment's community room to host everyone. They have been adding tables, chairs, and such to help build community as well as they have a great little kids play corner that Abigail loves to go play in!

Here is a picture overview of her party. Enjoy!

 Our big birthday girl!

The table all set with strawberry cupcakes, strawberry ice cream, red punch, and hot cider.

 A picture progression of her as she has grown month-by-month. So glad we took these each month!

 Her little gift table. Balloons inspired by Pinterest (of course!).

Excited about her party!

 Singing "Happy Birthday!" to Abigail! She was so cute as she just stared at everyone singing to her.

 She liked her pretty cupcake!

 "Ooo... what's that white stuff, Mommy?"

"Oh, yummy!"

 "Maybe this is how you eat a cupcake?"

 "Or, maybe this way?"

"This is so yummy, Mommy!"

 Present time...

 Opening her gifts

 "Ooo... I like this!"

 Her little buddy Laedin decided to help too! So cute!

 Her first real baby doll! She loves this and carts it around all the time now at home! I am so grateful!

 

She enjoys her little stroller too and pushing her baby in it.

 Playing with her friend, David.

 Playing with her friend, Laedin.

Abigail is 10 Months + She has a surprise to tell!

Abigail is excited to tell that she is going to be a BIG SISTER in the spring! We are all very excited about this new blessing that the Lord has given to our family! We are due May 5th, so that puts us at 8 weeks along. Nausea has been my daily companion for a while now and the exhaustion has really been increasing recently. However, the Lord is being gracious to give strength and grace each day. We went last week to our midwife's office and the baby has a strong, fast heartbeat. Praise the Lord!

Now, on to Abigail at 10 months. :-)

*She is becoming so verbal! It's so cute to hear her talk to her toys, in the car, or just wherever! :-) I'm sure she will probably be quite the talker when she is older!
*She says: "da-da" and "da-dee",  "ba", and "ma ma" (although not often, haha)
*Her biggest accomplishment is that she can walk! Slowly, but surely she is able to take a number of steps without help. She's not quite confident enough to walk all the way around the room, but she has been able to make it a few feet on her own, which is very exciting! It's fun to turn around and see her walking towards something.
*She still has two teeth, however, this past week she has been SUPER cranky, fussy, clingy, and crying a ton, with a draining nose and so I believe (hope) that more teeth are about ready to come through. :-) Yay!
*She pretty much eats everything we eat now... except grains, dairy, and sugar. This has really challenged me to make sure that every meal I cook is healthy and varied, especially without being able to feed her grains.  :-)
* This month we have begun to see a little bit of fruit from our daily training of her. She is finally beginning to understand and respond correctly when we say "no ma'am" or "no touch"... At first I wondered when she would ever understand. Yet after much repetition on our part, she is actually doing well with being more obedient! She does not pull up on the lamp, get into the trash, or unroll the toilet paper nearly as often now! :-) haha...

Abigail is such a blessing to us! Our love for her grows deeper by the day! She is teaching us so much about our own lives and hearts. It's amazing, wonderful, and humbling how the Lord uses our children to refine us!

It's Been A While...

I can hardly believe it's been a month since I've blogged on here! Time is flying by so fast and Miss Abigail is keeping me quite busy every day! haha... She is definitely on the move now! She loves getting into everything! She is quite inquisitive.

Abigial loves to be near me basically ALL the time. Haha... this includes while I'm cooking in the kitchen. The other day she ended up sitting in our dish drainer that was sitting on the floor. :-)

Kyle's parents came for a visit at the beginning of the month and we really enjoyed hosting them for the Fourth of July weekend.

 Mimi bought Abigail some new blocks. They enjoyed playing with them together.

 Showing Abigail letters.

 Papa C playing with Abigail

 All ready to go out for the day.

 Abigail with her Papa C and Mimi

 Kyle with his beautiful Mama, Kay

 We took Abigail to a fun toy shop

We enjoyed getting fun drinks from Starbucks.