My Life From Puppy Dog Tails to Sugar and Spice

I'm not sure exactly what led me to want to post today. I think I was having the feeling that the recent Duker stories were piling up in my head and getting too dificult to recount. Oh he is funny. Sometimes, I'm so embarrassed that I wish he wasn't quite so funny. Amongst other things he has taken to asking people, "Are you a boy or a girl?" and "Does she have milk inside of her?" or "Do you have a baby in your tummy?" Sometimes there is just no way I can beat him to the punch, he really is just going to think of the wildest things to ask. It's overwhelming to think of all the instructional ground we will cover together over the coming years! I just hope one day, when the tables turn and I (hopefully not too often) am the one embarrassing him that he will be just as gracious to let it roll right off.

Today I went to meet my mom and sisters for a lovely girl's lunch. Well, girls plus my 2 little squirts: Duke and Adyline. But we wouldn't have it any other way! It was fun, but not without correction and motherly guidance for my little gentleman to be. He has recently caught on to the fact that he is funny...and although others tell him he is funny, he finds himself even funnier than everyone else does. Well, sometimes this is harmless and fun and other times it's hard to rein the child in. Today at lunch "Totsies" (Aunt Tammy) kept teasing him and sweetly playing with him. So what did he do? Grabbed a small fortune of peas pulled her shirt and tossed them in. Then laughed wildly with excitement. Worst part is even Mimi (the mother of all manners) laughed her head off. Does anybody relate when I say that I really did have complete control of my face and correctional voice until I saw my mothers shoulders shaking and throbbing with her own choked laugh? I quickly looked to Tammy who is laughing just as hard, and I just lost it. Forget it. So, I just had to tell him: "Duke, somethings really are funny. But that doesn't always mean it's ok. Grabbing people's clothes is NOT ok, and it's certainly not ok to throw food down them! Now, can you please tell Totsies you are sorry for getting carried away?"

And he is still packing away the memory verses. I'm so proud of him! He's like a little database of verses. The other day after he said, "Obey your father and mother," he asked me: "what is mother?" To which I exclaimed: "No wonder!" Oh Duke, mother means Mommy so yes, God would be pleased for you to obey your Mommy. Another recent "spiritual" conversation went like this:


Duke: I opened my eyes while you were praying.


Me: Do you know why we close our eyes when we pray? So that we aren't distracted and can pay attention to God.


Duke: Well,...and so bugs don't get in our eyes. Or any other kind of animal.





And another:


Me: Ok Duke, you really do need to go take a nap now.


Duke: *sweetly* But I'm not very sleepy.


Me: Well, you are going to at least lay down and rest during naptime. This is mommy time.


Duke: *serious, pensive* What about Duker time?





I think I have mentioned in earlier posts that stuffed animals have trumped cars and are the new obsession. The naming process is very important to Duke. Oh yes, they all must have a name. Duke could have been Adam because he never runs out of animal names. He makes most of them up entirely, very few are actual names. Here are a few: Train, Potty Train, Stirn, Stunach, Podacy, Joe (random "real" name), Tiny Kitty, Mr Potatoes, and the like. Now, he is quite partial to Tiny Kitty. I often find Tiny Kitty swaddled in blankets, poking out of Duke's shirt (she was riding in his "baby sling" just like sister does in Mommy's) and Duke rocking and bouncing her. Duke feeds her "milk" from a bottle and will "sush" me when she is down for her nap.Sometimes I will ask Duke where she is and he will tell me, "I put her down for her nap." One time Duke told Daniel to keep it down while Tiny Kitty was sleeping, so Daniel faked a loud sneeze and then whispered very seriously, "Uh-oh. Sorry! Did I wake Tiny Kitty up?" Well, thanks a lot Daniel because it took me about a month to get Duke to stop faking sneezes every time I told him to be quiet while sister was sleeping. He often askes if she can sleep with him in his bed or at least in his room. Ooooooh, Duke. You have no idea what you are asking! He loves Adyline SO much and is very, VERY proud of her. He loves to show her to people, "help" take care of her, bring her toys, push her on the swing (not so rough Duke, Duke that's too high, gentle pushes Duke, easy Duke, etc), hold her and give her hugs.





Switch gears with me now from puppy dog tails to sugar and spice so I can tell you about the baby girl in the house. Dressing her everyday is more fun than putting up a Christmas tree! This mommy loves nothing more than to pick the perfect bow of the day to top the sweetest little baby head I know. I love her so much I just can't stand it! In fact I live in this bi-polar limbo where I want her to sleep so much (and I certainly DONT want her to wake up early) but I miss her SO much while she is asleep! I've said before that when I have a baby it takes me the whole first year to realize we really are TWO people. It's just that we really used to be one person! I carry Adyline in a baby sling all the time. She is very content there and I feel very content with her there. We do everything together. She even comes with me to help in the children's department at church. I can "wear" her and do pretty much anything I want (except bend over; that's like being pregnant again!). Oh and she can crawl now! Yes! Well, she can slither now! Cutest locomotion, bless my soul, that i have ever seen! She looks JUST like an inch worm! She crumples her body up, feet toward her head, hiney in the air, hands reaching as far as possible, and then pushing with all her might with the feet while pulling with the hands. Oh, it's just darling! Sweeeee--eeet Adyline!

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"Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of!"
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Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

On nests, tea, rascals and "Rats!"

Where do I start? Duke has pulled so many stunts recently and said so many funny things. Adyline is growing and changing right before our eyes, and Daniel and I just celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. God has really blessed our little nest, and we have a lot of fun together. Speaking of nests, we have a bird nest right outside our front door! Poor Mama bird never gets a break. Duke's favorite thing to do is ring the doorbell so Jax (our yorkie) barks and Fire (Duke's name for himself when he pretends to be a dog) can bark like their tails are on fire. The ruckus causes the baby birdies to peep their tiny, sealed eyed heads up as high as they can in a panic. Mama bird needs some coaching from those of us overly protective Mama birds because she just flies away as fast as she can! Today I even risked my 2 eyeballs for the bird family and rescued one of the babies. I came through the entry way just in time to look out our porch and see a tiny bird on the pavement, still breathing. Worried that "Fire" and Jax may have induced the bird's stress led leap of death, I put my gloves on, grabbed my trusty step stool and dropped the birdie back in the nest. I hope you make it baby bird!

Despite his over exuberance to participate with them, Duke loves animals so much! He even talks baby talk to animals--even the bird nest outside. Well, that is when he is Duke and not Fire. Duke is a nurturer and loves anything that is smaller than he is. He got to hold a very young kitten at his Grandma CC's house in Lingleville at a family gathering. She commented that she had kept telling him she loved him, hoping and hoping he'd echo the sweet phrase back to her but instead he'd just be silly. Next she watched him pass the kitten on the way to the car, put both his hands around it, and brought his nose right up to the kitten's and said in his most tender voice, "Bye little kitty, I love you so much!"
Duke has been praying for his buddy and neighbor Liam for many months. Liam, praise Jesus, is recovering from Leukemia. Liam has just returned from a long in and out stay at Cook's hospital in Ft Worth. Duke has always loved Liam's cat Windsor. I don't know how, but Duke is a cat person, Daniel and I are hands down dog people. Anyway, when we helped house sit for Liam's family, Duke walked in saw their cat and said in a voice as though this was a long, lost friend: "Windsor!!!! I thought you were in Ft Worth!" He hugged him and hugged him. In fact, Duke holds Windsor in such high esteem he named one of his favorite stuffed animals (a little kitten) after him. I find Duke's Windsor in Jax's kennel, Adyline's baby swing, Jax's bed, wrapped in a towel, and all over the place. Duke takes wonderful care of him!

Now, there is no living thing who has captivated Duke more than his little sister. He loves her so, so much. He talks baby talk to her also. I often pray that God will fill each member of our family's heart with love for each other. He really has answered that prayer, I have never seen a brother of such a young age show so much kindness or adoration to his sister. When she cries he leans over and says, "Don't cry sister, I am right here." If she wakes up crying in the morning he suggests to me that maybe it's because she hasn't seen him yet. If he keeps up this tenderness he will be able to just have his pick of whatever girl he wants. Now Fire, well, he may not be so lucky....

Duke has had a couple times where he got frustrated with Adyline. Best example is when we were driving home and Adyline, wanting out of her car seat, screamed most of the way home. Duke, the only passenger in the back with her, spoke tenderly, patiently and calmly the whole way home. He said sweet phrases like, "We are almost there" over and over again. He didn't loose his cool until we got in the driveway and she wasn't stopping despite his telling her three times, "You made it, we are home." Well, I guess that's when something snapped because that's when his voice drastically changed 180 degrees and he yelled at the top of his lungs: "WE'RE HO------ME!"

Adyline is a VERY happy baby provided she is with Mommy. She has what Daniel and my mom call a two minute timer. She will be happy in the arms of another for 2 minutes and then suddenly start wailing. I don't know why, because she LOVES when friends, family or even strangers visit with her or interact with her. Duke sometimes leans in to the person holding her and says in a light whisper, "I think she wants Mommy." HA! I love you Duke! That's one phrase blurted out that I can handle! :) Speaking of phrases, 2 weeks ago Duke was drinking milk; I suppose it went down the wrong "pipe" because immediately he is red faced, coughing and teary eyed. Next thing I know he lets out a LOUD gag/burp and then breathes hard and tries to figure out what just happened inside of him. He looks at me, tears still in his eyes, sobered and red faced, and says: "I, I, I....I thought I tooted." I guess I won't be the mother of the year, because thats when I laughed my head off. That's not the first time he has mixed up words either. He was trying to draw up the words "Rice crispy treats" from his memory but instead said, "Daddy, can I have one of those, uh, one of those...uh...one of those, Sesame streets?"

Despite his tumbling over words, Duke has awesome people skills. Recently I have noticed when he is with his peers how social and well mannered he is verbally. I mean he is three, but 'please,' 'thank you,' 'excuse me,' 'here is a toy for you,' etc. He can be the kindest, most polite child when he relates to other children. This social charm
as it relates to language and relating has encouraged me SO, so much seeing as how he can spend an entire day in what Daniel and I call Fire or "Rascal Mode." No, actually scratch that. His ability to turn on the charm encourages me because he can spend weeks in Rascal mode. When you consider in the last few days that Duke has single handedly, dumped out 3/4 of a gallon of lemonade all over the floor, covered his bedroom in baby powder, flung his body hard enough against the wall to knock pictures of himself off, washed apples in the bathroom (I really hope he used the sink rather than other readily available water sources in the room...), terrorized birds, made countless trips around the shed (I'll explain that in a minute), dropped his pants and relieved himself in an indoor atrium (guess he saw the trees and thought he was in the wild outdoors), come dangerously close to dropping a bucket of ant poison into my mothers pool, took one big swig from a pump of liquid soft soap, and run out of the house in nothing but his "undies", his relational advancement is extremely exciting to me. Can you blame me? Now, make no mistake, the boy has a will of steel and iron! Not the kind of "strong will" that means bossy britches. No, he isn't bossy at all, nope, he just doesn't intend to be bossed. This is a shame and quite a conflict of interests because sometimes I feel like all I do is boss Duke around. My newest idea was inspired in an effort to teach Duke some manners in a fun way; for some quality time and because Duke LOVES tea, he and I have started the ritual of "tea time" following his nap time! We both love it! And as for consequences for misbehavior, I stole a great tip from a friend and have started making him run laps around our shed instead of always sending him to the corner...let me just say, there are tread marks all the way around. He has a curiosity level and magnetizing effect for mischief that would put Curious George himself to shame. I recently heard Beth Moore say that she raised a child that could "make James Dobson cry his eyes out!" Ha! Well, Duke could to, but not without making him laugh his head off first.

My new expression to manage my stress or frustration is: "RATS!" Duke used to matter of factly answer me, "Rats are animals, Mama." But now he uses the expression himself to vent his frustration. This week he told me, "Rats! Puffin [one of his current favorite stuffed animals] is sick!" One of my most recent "Rats!" moments was when Daniel was out of town last week. I drove in the driveway with 2 hungry children, 100 degrees outside, refrigerated groceries in the car, Duke in need of some discipline, a neighbor in the driveway to discuss our shared fence, Adyline swimming in a car seat of overflowed baby poop (she is at that stage, remember it moms?) and to top it off I scratched the life out of my leg in the garage (just amputate it, 'who cares?' is what I was thinking in the moment). Just sizing the whole situation up, I could hardly decide where to put my attention first (I prioritized Adyline and her "mud" bath)! Well, I had one thing to say to the whole charade: "RATS!!!!"

These precious children have made us the happiest we have ever been, but not without making us the craziest we have ever been! No wonder my sudden obsession with dark chocolate. Do they medicate you if you start panicking when your location is separate from chocolate? And I guess when you have more mascara in your bangs than your actual eyelashes, than you know you either a mother of small children or a senior citizen. Oh well, this life is a blast.

Well, there has been lots to say about "brother;" now let me tell you about little sister. She is such a joy, oh she is just a doll! We are all 3 so in love with this girl! She is my alarm clock and with an alarm clock like this one, anybody would be a morning person. She is vibrant and lovely, cheerful and flexible, and glory to God, a good sleeper!!! YAY! She is precious. She is very smilie and interactive. She already knows how to crack up too! Adyline has an awesome sense of humor just like Duke and just when I think my heart is going to burst-- I fall more in love with her. I love washing and brushing her hair and dreaming about all the years to come brushing her hair and talking together. She already loves to babble, so that a good start, right? She always wants to see what Duke is doing (can you blame her?) so sometimes I have to leave the room to get her to sleep or to eat (But, this can be dangerous as Duke sees it as his cue for mischief). Daniel tells Adyline all the time that she's always smiling; and he is right. Truly, even when she is crying she stops and smiles; sometimes when she is dozing off she will look and me briefly, and give me her biggest smile just before rolling her eyes to the back of her head and drifting off to sleep.

Daniel bought me video monitors for both babies (don't even think about telling me I don't need 2 video monitors! Please! Of course I do! No one in their right mind would judge me for taping a video monitor directly to Duke's very forehead for the sake of everyone's safety and sanity.). Sometimes at night (after Daniel and I laugh about what crazy sleep position Duke is in) I will stare from one monitor to the other and think, what on earth that the God of heaven could bless me so much.

Daniel and I just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I would marry him all over again and I have only grown to be more and more thankful for him. He is a great dad and I'm fighting tears as I tell you about what a blessing he is to our children. I thank God that Adyline has a loving dad that adores her, and I pray with all my heart that that assurance will protect her from giving her heart away before God's perfect timing. Oh my darling, "Listen to my instruction and be wise" (Prov 8:33, one of Duke's memory verses. Oh and this one is free, International Version of Duke: "Love your neighbor and yourself"). Oh Lord, despite the moments when I have nothing to do but say a quick prayer and exclaim, "rats!" thank you for these 3 precious people who daily enrich my life; help me live this life for you.

Our Hope Fulfilled: Adyline Hope Decker 1-31-11

The Decker household is just so proud of our little "Adylinee" (Duke's nickname for her) and so glad that she has finally arrived. She is beautiful. I am so taken with just how precious she is. Daniel and I feel like we won the lottery to have both and son and a daughter! Sweet little Adyline Hope Decker, I can't wait to tell you about her...

Monday, January 31st I went to my weekly sonogram. I was so happy to have just crossed the 37 week mile marker. Sunday I had felt pretty miserable (swelling, headache) and had been "nesting" like crazy. Monday morning started out as a normal day. Got up, ate breakfast with Duke, picked up a little, visited with Daniel and headed to my appointment. I even called my sister, Kayla on the way to sing Happy birthday to her; little did I know, my daughter would have the same Birthday! I went in to Dr. Mayberry's office (our sonographer) and was told my blood pressure was through the roof! He said I had toxemia/preeclampsia AGAIN and he would call my OBGYN while I headed to the hospital. He was reassuring that female lungs develop faster than males and that he thought she'd be tiny, but mature enough to thrive outside the womb. I called Daniel and went straight to the hospital. I requested one of my favorite nurses from Duke's delivery and she was by my side the entire time; I was especially blessed to have her because the hospital did some rearranging to allow her to be my nurse. Dr. Tadvick came over and scheduled the operation for 2 pm. The operation itself was a little rough for me (throwing up, etc); and the pre-op magnesium makes a patient feel like they have the flu. But by 3:00 pm they could have told me they were cutting off my thumbs and it wouldn't have phased me! I had my baby girl and heavy doses of Demerol - I was a happy girl! I could not have even imagined how wonderful a delivery with few complications could be! I had my girl on my chest for the next 4 days straight. I savored every single moment with her. The next 6 days brought a blizzard, which was very inconvenient for Abilene, but so wonderful for me! I had nothing but quiet bonding time. I told Daniel that I felt like I needed to apologize to all of Abilene! I really think God in his kindness was extra sweet to me and provided the privacy that we had been hoping for. It was the sweetest, most sacred time. I will never forget it, each detail was perfect in every way and I felt overwhelmed with the kindness of my Lord. Why is He so sweet to me?

Daniel really wanted to keep Adyline Hope's name a secret until the delivery. Now, being the one that ruins at least one Christmas present every year, I was EXTREMELY nervous I would spill. It was especially difficult to keep it from my mom and sisters (kinda fun to keep it from my Dad and brothers though! If you know them, you understand why!). This being said, I have been dying to explain the significance of Adyline Hope's name for a very long time now.

About three years ago I was in a Beth Moore bible study where I learned about the biblical meaning of the word 'hope.' The brief discussion of the word became life changing to my thought life. We think of it as a positive, go lucky word: I hope mom makes spaghetti, etc. But, I found much greater meaning to the word. My entire life I have wrestled with fear. There have been times in my life that it has crippled me. Wherever I go, whatever I do, I have always found something to be afraid of. Following the trauma of Duke's arrival, I became very fearful about being pregnant again. God began teaching me to reject fear and embrace hope {Why are you downcast O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will ever praise Him my savior and my God. Psalm 43:5} It became so profound in my spiritual walk that year, that when I journalled or prayed over my next pregnancy I referred to the future child as "hope." It was something special between me and the Lord. At this point I didn't intend to use it as a name, and I certainly didn't know the future to know that my next child would be female, however I felt strongly that it was the baby's God given identity even three years ago.

When Daniel and I first discovered we were pregnant, we decided to keep it between the two of us for a while. This was a sweet time, but being so close to my mom and sisters, I found it difficult (surprise surprise) to keep my mouth shut. I also didn't want them to feel as though they had missed out. So I started a journal for them about the special things God was doing for me during this time and began referring to the new life inside of me as "Hope" and "Hopie;" I also explained in this journal the significance of the nickname. There are so many things I could list for you that God did to reiterate the theme of hope to me. Too many to list, the redundancy became almost comical. For instance, the first Sunday we knew we were pregnant, a guest speaker came and preached a sermon on ... hum, what do you think? ... hope. The day we found out she was a girl, the sonogram room had one of those decorative wall words, what do you guess it said? Hope. On and on I could go with examples, except it's 10:30 pm and I am sleep deprived and dying to complete this and get it out on paper... :)

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I lost my sweet Grandma Sara just weeks after the discovery of my pregnancy. It had been three years since I had seen Grandma Sara and I already missed her, being in her house and in North Carolina was almost heartbreaking for me because of the realization that I would never see her again this side of eternity. Over and over and over again Adyline's life inside of me was a salve to my pain. I felt like the Lord was telling me, "Yes, I have taken someone special; but do not lose hope because I am giving you someone special." Because the timing of their lives were intangled in my heart, I just couldn't help it, but I started imagining the child inside me to be a girl. Perhaps if I had lost my Granddad I would have thought of a boy, but I just wondered (and even hoped) if the Lord was putting another little lady in my life.

During the funeral service I was completely overwhelmed by such a life so well lived. There was nothing I didn't love about her (how many people can you say that about?). I felt very humbled to be referred to as one of her Granddaughters. Because of her legacy there were many, many people to speak about her from different parts and times of her life. I was amazed and almost amused that over and over again each speaker's words had the reoccurring theme of hope. It's like in my grief each speaker was literally using my baby's nickname over and over again, reminding me of the life and making it utterly impossible to escape God's comfort. How great is our God! Big enough to create galaxies, and small enough to orchestrate tiny details to forever engrave a victorious virtue in my heart. At this point, I just started saying to the Lord, "I get it. OK, absolutely, I will not be downcast, I WILL put my hope in YOU!" Despite the fact that the past year has held a lot of heart ache and trials for me and loved ones, I am utterly convinced that this is the season of hope in our lives; because of this experience I have not lost hope in the other circumstances. Following all these experiences, I began saying that God named her Hope. It was just so appropriate in every way to give it to her as a name.

In Adyline's nursery I have a special shadow box of a photo of my Grandma Sara holding me as a baby. It also holds her necklace--a cross pendant given to me by my Granddad. Inside of it is the verse featured below. I love it because my Grandma was a very hopeful person; very innocent and gentle and full of hope. Even though my daughter doesn't have the same name as my Grandma, I ask God to tell her I named my baby in honor of her. It is such a victorious word and I love knowing that it is forevermore stamped to Adyline's forehead so that she will never escape the reality of what her precious life has taught me. If Duke is a dream come true (and I have always said he is), then Adyline, you are my hope fulfilled. I love her forever and ever, my darling, my Adyline, my "hope."

But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love.

Psalm 33:18

Adyline Hope Decker

January 31, 2011

5 lbs 8 oz; 18 3/4 inches

To see a picture slide show and beautiful song by Adyline's Poppies, go to:

My Adyline

This has been one of the sweetest days of my life. It was so perfect. I love her more every second. Adyline is doing just fabulous. She weighed 5 lb 8 oz; 18 and 3 quarters long. She is just an angel and looks a lot like her big brother. She has a surprising amount of dark, curly hiar. She is eating well and busy being adored by her parents. I can't stop saying, "I'm so happy!" Even though I know I just said it. This morning I went to see our sonographer and my blood pressure was through the roof. I developed preeclampsia again, but this time I made it to 37 weeks--Thank you Lord! As I type this Adyline is laying on my chest with her head right under my chin. She is SO precious. What a surprise today turned out to be. Adyline and my sister, Kayla share birthdays. I love that! Duke got to hold her today, he has been waiting so long to meet her. I enjoyed watching him hold her and look at her lovingly. I am still on magnesium and a few other things as well, so I feel like I am probably making all kinds of spelling/grammatical errors, also I am typing this on my phone and cannot figure out how to start a new paragragh, but I just had to share how much God has poured out the flood gates of blessing. Today was a piece of heaven and I stand in awe of how very, very good God has been to me. Thank you Jesus for the sweetest treasure of my very blessed family. I could just hug the world. Thank you all for your continued prayers for us.
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On Nursery and "Baby Hasser"

For as long as Duke has been able to crawl, we have noticed an absolute obsession with cars! But lately he has been, almost equally, obsessed with stuffed animals. He loves them, names them, feeds them, sleeps next to as many as we will allow, and takes them where ever he can. I guess it's this new hobby in his life, or maybe just his vivid imagination, but lately he has introduced us to someone new; now, I have no idea how long this individual has been around, but his name is Baby Hasser. Baby Hasser is an invisible baby calf that fits in Duke's hands. Baby Hasser follows Duke around often (so we hear) and Duke is usually kind enough to pick him up and carry him. I have seen children with imaginary friends before, but Baby Hasser just makes Daniel and me laugh our heads off.

The other day Duke was playing in the back yard and started gagging like he was going to throw up. He was really upset that he had something nasty in his mouth and when I looked in there was nothing there. Immediately I asked the question I have come to so frequently dread to ask, "Duke, what did you swallow?" Don't you know every mother cringes when she has to utter those words together? Ugh. "Grass," he responded. Great. Just great. I have no doubt that Duke and Baby Hasser were out there eating grass together. Luckily, Duke didn't care for the taste at all (he kept gagging even after he drank his water) and I don't suspect he will let Baby Hasser convince him to join for a graze any time soon.

Duke takes excellent care of Baby Hasser though. Recently, Duke and I were driving away from Prime Time and Duke gasped, "Mommy! We forgot Baby Hasser!" I quickly reached into my purse and said, "Here he is, I got him!" Duke looked like the weight of the world was lifted from his shoulders and was so relieved. Baby Hasser lives on...






Speaking of babies and imagining, lately every evening I HAVE to go into our nursery, close my eyes and dream of bringing home our baby girl. This room is just a haven for me. I feel so incredibly blessed to get to bring home another baby Decker. Thank you Jesus!

We closed off this room in our house and behind this curtain is a double door that we have sealed off. Between the door and the curtain is a painting from a friend that is covered in twinkle lights. I don't have a lamp in this room, but in the evening I turn on the twinkle lights and the entire sheer curtain illuminates and it looks like stars. Its so soothing, I love it!

This is above her amoire--technically a TV cabinet that Daniel found on Craig's list! This room doesn't have a closet and Daniel found this beautiful piece for $100. He just installed a pole to hang for his baby's clothes and waaa--laaa: an Armour. I think it is wonderful, and it matches her crib and changing table beautifully. We also replaced the knobs for little pink glass ones. I could not be happier with this piece! Awesome job Daddy!

This is a little shelf Daniel hung for me, but what I want to point out is the picture. I have blogged previously about the loss of my sweet Grandma Sara right about my tenth week of pregnancy. I told Daniel, we may be laughing at me in a few weeks, but I really think I am having a girl. The new life of my baby was such a comfort to me with the sadness of my loss. As I have said several times, these two lives will forever be entangled in my heart. The picture on the shelf is a shadow box of my Grandma Sara holding me as a baby and also if you look closely you'll see a pendant from her necklace. Yes, it's the one from my Granddad that I got for Christmas (see previous blog). I intend to put a verse in it as well, but I will have to explain that later...

This is the bedding my fabulously talented mother made. I had looked all over for a "cottagy" style, soft pink, floral fabric and couldn't find anything I liked. I had literally spent hours looking. She found and suggested this fabric collection and I couldn't love it more! She has been sewing her heart out trying to make my quickly approaching "deadline" (11 days, whoop whoop!)

Here is the inside of the "Amoire." We have been blessed with SO many hand me down clothes from friends and family. Most everything in here has been given to us and we have boxes in the attic for her to grow into. Sheesh, we are SO blessed.

Here is a close up of some of the fabric...





The finishing touch will be the cushions for this rocker. Mom is currently working on them! I'm so excited! I look forward to lots of sweet moments in this rocker!


This shelf is not complete, however I must point out the music box on the left. This was mine when I was a little girl and I have always loved it! It's three angels standing around baby Jesus in the manger. It was in my room and bares the evidence by being cracked in a couple places--but I HAD to include it in her room! Oh! I should also point out that Daniel built and installed this shelf.

Well, there she is! Very likely the next time I blog, will be after our daughter is born! I can't wait to announce and explain the significance of her name! Tune in next time...