Big Boy Stuff

As much as I hate to admit it, my babies are turning into big boys. They are learning to do so many new things, and I have a mixture of pride, excitement, anxiety, and sadness about it all. They are learning new words every day. They are also getting really good at identifying objects. David is especially into lights. Weird, huh? Erik has peed in the potty chair twice now which was really exciting.

They are such sweet boys, and I'm (mostly) glad that they are growing up. :)

David saying "Bee-bo." You might not know what "bee-bo means" or maybe you've forgotten. It's just the tiny hippo way of saying "belly button."

David showing off his belly button.

We got some new (well, new to us) furniture for our family room, and David especially loves the new chair. Mostly because he can climb up it like a little baby spider-man and reach the light switch.


*turns light on* "wight!" *turns light off* "bye-bye wight!" repeat

Erik loves shoes. He loves his new blue sandals the most. But he also loves Daddy's shoes.

Tying knots? :)

Wearing Daddy's shoes.

Trying to walk in Daddy's shoes. Maybe someday bunkin. :)

David and Erik "help" cook dinner

I guess we're having sea food. :)

Pictures from our trip to Utah

We had a chance to visit my family in Utah a few weeks ago. We had a great time. We went to the aquarium, made cookies, had homemade pizza, played with our cousins, met our Uncle Jimmy, visited the zoo, went fishing, met our baby cousin Gracie, and so much more. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

All tuckered out after church.

Erik didn't even make it through lunch.

Erik enjoying some homemade chocolate chip cookies. :)


David saying "yum" with a mouthful of cookie.

Erik (blue), David (green), and Grandma (red) at the aquarium.

Erik playing on the giant frog.

David posing for a picture near the "deck." They spent a good amount of time just climbing in and out of it.

David smiling with some flowers.

Erik with some flowers.

Seriously, I don't know why they love flowers so much, but they do.

David and Grandpa

Erik slowing down just long enough to take a picture.


Grandpa and David fishing.

Erik stealing the fishing pole from brother.

A baby elephant. So cute!

A giraffe.

A tortoise.

Erik and David exhausted from a day at the zoo.

A family of geese we saw in the zoo parking lot.

New Neighbors

Our wonderful neighbor Silvia (who we are really going to miss) moved and gave us this hanging plant. She didn't want to take it with her because a bird had built a nest in it. So we hung it up thinking that the bird wasn't going to find her nest after it was moved. We were wrong.

Meet our new neighbors: The Billingsleys. Charlotte and Reginald Billingsley moved in about a month ago just a day or two after we hung up the plant by our porch. I did a little research and found out that they are house finches. And now they are the proud parents of twins: Royce and Abigail!

Yes, we named the birds living outside our window. We're weird like that. The birds grew up fast and flew away, but we sure loved having them for a few weeks.

Here's a picture of Charlotte. She's a little shy. Reginald wouldn't pose for pictures.

Here are the eggs. It made me so happy to see new life growing.

Here is Royce. Abigail took her time and was born the next day.




Here they are together. Don't they look like little rat birds? But somehow, they're still cute.




All grown up. I was so sad when they flew away. We'll miss you guys!

Big boys

Our boys are growing up way too fast.

Here is David sitting at the table. He can climb into the chair all by himself now.

I don't know why, but Erik loves to wear my sweaters. Quite the look with only one shoe and boogers all over his face. Somehow he is still super cute. :)

Chocolate Bunnies

We bought the boys chocolate bunnies for their Easter baskets. Then we forgot all about them. We pulled them out a few weeks ago and let the boys enjoy. Apparently, they like chocolate.

Erik eating his bunny. He got the ears I think.

Eventually he stuck the whole chunk in his mouth. Yum.

He clearly enjoyed himself. :)



David's smile is just darling in this picture.

And in it goes.

When he was finished, David started signing more. Sorry baby. You've had enough.

No Words

This post is hard to write. There are so many things I want to say, and I have no way of saying them. No words can express all my feelings. But I have found writing, even if the words are imperfect, to be healing, and so I write.

We were expecting a baby this November. We were overjoyed. I bought the boys "Big Brother" t-shirts and taught them to say "baby" and "sesame seed" (our nickname for our baby). We were planning on spreading the news when I was 10 weeks along, and we enjoyed having our little secret surprise. We loved being a family of five.

But on April 11th, we lost our baby. I was 9 weeks pregnant. I know it doesn't sound like a very long time to grow to love someone, but I spent over 1000 hours carrying our little baby, and I felt her spirit in our home from almost the moment she was conceived. We love her, and we will always love her.

The hardest part of losing our baby has been not knowing how to grieve. We had no body to bury, no cheek to kiss good-bye. The people we loved most didn't even know there was a baby to be lost.

I know she is safe, but I have so many questions, and my heart just aches to hold my baby. I have found that writing my thoughts and feelings has helped to heal my heart a little, so I created a blog for my little lost baby. I also hope that it will help her to be remembered. I don't want her to be forgotten.

Naming her has also helped. We named her Cecily. If you'd like to read the story of how we named her, please feel free to read her blog: RememberingOurCecily.blogspot.com

I want to apologize for telling so many of you this on our family blog instead of in person. I know that it is impersonal, and I wish I had the strength to say these things out loud. I'm so sorry. I just couldn't find the words.