Stella Turned One!

Hey Everyone,

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the kind words and prayers about my last post about my dad. He was an incredible man and it felt really good to just get all of that out. Thank you!

On April 26th, 2016, Stella Louise Harvey was born at 5:55 PM. The year absolutely flew. Maybe having a very curious, outgoing, and active toddler around kept things going. I keep hearing people say that the days are long, but the years are short. I would have to agree and I've only been doing this for a couple of years. My days are very long, but when I see pictures and re-read some of these update posts, the year has gone by very very fast! I absolutely love love love being able to stay at home with my girls. There are days that I literally pack them up in the car with nowhere to go, but for my own sanity we all just need to be contained in one place. Then there are days where Ruby walks up to Stella, gives her a kiss and says, "I love you Stella." I then melt into a thousand puddles of mush.

Stella has been a dream you guys. She loves her people a lot. She loves being at home, she loves being out and about as long as one of us is close by. She goes with the flow. She only really cries if we are at someone else's house and I walk out of her sight. She doesn't smile for strangers very often. Sometimes people will get her to give a little smirk. She smiles all the time at home and especially for Ruby as long as Ruby is being nice. She loves playing peek-a-boo, singing songs, dancing, taking baths, and crawling as fast as she can to daddy as soon as he gets home. She has been taking steps on her own and is getting pretty confident. She eats about as much as Ruby. She had no problems switching over to whole milk. She HATED her birthday cake when we were taking pictures. I thought maybe a cupcake would be more her style, but the girl spit it out. I then asked Ben if maybe our baby got switched at birth because we like cake. She folds her hands when we say it's time to pray. She has just been such a joy in our house. She is a way better snuggler than Ruby was. I will hold Stella and she just lays her head onto my shoulder and I again melt and then melt some more. It's the best. I'm so thankful that God blessed us with these girls. A year in the life of Stella...

Whoever said labor wasn't fun?

I remember looking down at Stella and thinking that she looked just like Ruby when Ruby was born. 

Loves Cheerios

SO BIG! 

He SHOULD be turning 62

Hey All,

Today my dad should be turning 62. Instead, exactly 2 years ago, he found out that he may have cancer. That nightmare became a reality a couple weeks later and it eventually took his life.

You know when you hear people say that when they lose a loved one that not a day goes by without thinking about that person? I know this is just kind of wrong, but I've always wondered, do people REALLY think about their loved ones every single day. The answer is yes. Every single day since my dad passed away I have thought about him. He comes out often in the way I parent my girls. He comes out in the silly songs that I sing to them. He comes out in my easy going attitude on life. He comes out when I try to get under Ben's skin just to see a reaction. Ruby and Stella do certain things and I just think of how much my dad would love that or get a kick out of it. There are days that I think about him and just smile and it is SO easy to talk about him. There are other days where Ben will come into the room and I have tears in my eyes and is all I can say is, "I just miss my dad."

I hate cancer. I really really really hate cancer. Anyone who has been through what I went through will agree that cancer sucks. However, I have something that not everyone has. I have hope in Jesus. I don't think that God planned for my dad to die of cancer, however I do know that He was in control and still is. I'm thankful that my dad knew the Lord and gets to spend eternity in heaven. I'm thankful that because I know and trust Jesus as my savior that I will get to see my dad again. God has given me such peace and comfort in living without my earthly father. Are there hard days? Yep, you read about them. Being a christian doesn't mean that your life is easy. On those hard days I cling ever so tightly to my God who gives me peace, understanding, love, and contentment.

I know everyone says this, but MY dad was the very best. He was a dad that showed up. He cared. He loved us hard. He protected us. He made me laugh with tears in my eyes. He worked hard. He was easy going. He loved my mom. He provided for us. He was spontaneous. He was simply the best. So, I guess this blog post is a tribute to my dad. I understand this now...not a single day goes by that I don't think of him. I miss him, but cling to the comfort that God has given me. I will forever be grateful for what he taught me and showed me in his short 60 years of life. I love you dad!

                                     

I always remember my dad with a Diet Coke in his hand. 

Before Ben and I moved to Alaska.

Pregnant with Ruby. 

Stella is 11 Months and Vacation!

Hey Everyone,

Stella turned 11 months on March 26th. Yikes, I'm way behind, but we have had a lot going on! Ruby was born on the 29th and so it is very hard for me to remember that Stella is a 26th baby. We also went on vacation without the girls and it was incredible! I will share more about that later.

Here are some fun facts about our almost 1 year old!

1. She LOVES to dance. She sways her head back and forth to any kind of beat...even her moms singing, which makes me feel wonderful!

2. She is still easy going and content playing with her toys. However, if Ruby takes something from her, she will indeed get upset.

3. She has taken a couple of steps, but nothing consistent.

4. She LOVES to eat. She eats pretty much anything that we eat. She can sometimes out eat Ruby.

5. She sleeps through the night and it is wonderful!

6. She catches her naps where she can and when she can. Often times it is in the car on the way to doing something. Poor thing.

7. She loves playing peek-a-boo.

8. You have to work hard to get her to smile, but when she (often) does, it is the most precious thing in town!

9. I think Ruby is still her favorite person, although she crawls pretty hard towards daddy when he gets home from work.

10. She doesn't like wearing socks or shoes, just like her sister.

We absolutely love Stella. So far she continues to be pretty mellow compared to her sister. Only time will tell I suppose.

Here are some facts about Ruby.

1. She is still into everything. She drags chairs around so she can reach all the things. It keeps me on my toes.

2. She talks so much and remembers everything! If you promise her a treat at Target, she won't forget!

3. She insists on walking whenever we are out and about. However, lately when she hasn't been listening her daddy carries her. She does not like that.

4. Her hair is growing so fast and getting so curly. I LOVE it. I have to put a pony in her bangs, so she can see. I'm hoping it becomes thick like her daddy's.

5. She would be outside all day every day if she could. One of the first things she says after breakfast is that she wants to go outside. Usually we do if it is nice enough.

6. She has started calling her daddy Ben. It is hilarious. The other day she was opening the garage door and saying, "sup Ben!"

7. We have started an ECFE class that she loves. She calls it school.

8. She can be the BEST big sister on the planet and she can definitely have her moments of wanting to hold Stella, push Stella, and climb on Stella.

9. The only time she sits still is when she is watching Curious George or Clifford's Puppy Days. Sometimes I will play them for her so that Stella can nap. Or I play them for her when she is driving me nuts and I just want a cup of coffee.

10. She is such a fun, outgoing, bubbly kinda gal. And she is waking up from her nap now. Better get my tennis shoes on.

Ben and I went on vacation. First of all, I need to thank my mom who is renting a house in Florida for the month of April and allowing us to come stay with her. Second, I need to thank Ben's parents for watching the girls for the week. It was SO incredible. I'm not sure we can say thank you enough! I drove down to Florida with my mom so she could have her car for the month. We took three days to drive and it was a lot of fun. I laughed until I cried and it was just a pleasant time. Ben flew down on Sunday and we spent our time eating a lot of ice cream, going to the beach, watching cable TV, and relaxing without demanding children. Did I mention it was amazing? Yes, of course I missed our girls, but I would be lying if I said I didn't want to come home just yet. We are back now and things are going ok. When I was in the hospital having Stella, Ruby was well behaved for my mom and then we came home and she was pretty naughty. The same thing is happening right now. She had an absolute blast at Dennis and Kathy's, but the last couple of days, she has been naughty again. Hopefully soon we will get back to normalcy! :) I think spring is here in Minnesota, so if you're looking for us, we will be OUTSIDE! :)

We spent many days at the beach.

We got to FaceTime the girls every night. 

This is what our days usually consist of. #keepingitreal

Stella is 10 Months

Hey Everyone,

Every time I sit down to write these, I feel like I just wrote one. To be honest, I write these mostly for myself. I have so much fun going back and reading about what Ruby was doing a year ago, or re-reading their birth stories, or even just last months post. I may not keep elaborate baby books, but I do blog memories. Lots and lots of memories. I also use an app called Groovebook. I absolutely LOVE it! Basically you can submit 100 photos that you took with your iPhone and every month they send you a book of those 100 prints. You can take the pictures out of the book and it is only like $3 a month I think. So, each month I get a book and throw it in a box to look at a later date.

Anyway, Stella turned 10 months old today. She is such a joy. She is content, she is joyful, and very tolerating of her older sister. Here are some facts about Stella.

1. She loves Cheerios and will grunt at me when she wants more.

2. She throws her hands up with a great big smile when you ask her, "How big is Stella?"

3. She is very mobile. She crawls all over the place and pulls herself up onto everything. She has started to stand by herself for 5-10ish seconds. I'm not going to lie, it makes me sad thinking about her walking.

4. She loves to dance, just like Ruby.

5. She is sleeping through the night! We did some sleep training with her. Sleep training is the nice way of saying that we let her cry for 40 minutes the first night, 45 the second night, 5 the third, and the rest was history. Sleep is good y'all!

6. She is much smaller than Ruby was at this age.

7. When she wants to get somewhere fast, she will put her head down and crawl like the wind blows!

8. She still thinks that Ruby is hilarious. She gets very excited to see Ruby in the morning.

9. She will sit and play with toys and be perfectly content. I think it must be a 2nd kid type thing.

10. As soon as Ben gets home Stella will crawl over to him and follow him wherever he goes until he picks her up. It is the sweetest thing!

Onto Ruby. Ben and I have commented a few times in the last year how lucky we have been that Ruby hasn't gotten the stomach flu or thrown up. She has had a couple of ear infections, but other than that we have been pretty blessed. Until Friday night. Ben and I were just sitting down to watch Grey's Anatomy and sure enough I hear Ruby coughing and what sounded like throwing up. So, I did what any sensible person would do....I sent Ben up to check it out. I heard a ANNNNE, can you come up here? Sure enough, she threw up. It was so so sad. I HATE vomit. It makes me queasy, but I don't know, for whatever reason it wasn't as hard when it was your own child. One thing I remember about growing up is that anytime I was sick, my mom and dad were such a comfort to me and so nurturing. I wanted to do that for Ruby. We brought her crib mattress into our room and put it beside our bed. Every two hours or so she would start stirring and then throw up. Not a lot. Aren't you all enjoying this portion of the blog? Remember when I said I blog this for the memories. Anyway, it was short lived...thank God and nobody else has gotten it. What I did find out is that Ben doesn't do well with puke. With that said though, he was an incredible Daddy. He gave her a bath while I cleaned the mess up, and held the bucket a couple of times.

I don't know why, but lately when we are about to go someplace Ruby will start getting whiney and tell me she wants to stay home. I don't know what it is. I'm looking forward to the warmer temps and being able to get out of the house some more. Ruby loves to help me do anything. Remember when I said Stella was content? Ruby loves being right by me almost all of the time. I love my girl, but sometimes this is difficult. Chopping onions is not too easy with a toddler next to you. One night I let Ruby play in a big bowl of flour so I could get dinner prepped and ready to go. Was there a mess? You bet. Nothing I (we) couldn't clean up though.

Well, I'm tired and my mind is drawing a blank. Weird right? haha! I better wrap this up with some pictures. Thankful for all of you!

Ruby emptied the linen closet and Stella climbed in. 

Ruby and Stella with their cousin Violet.