Pretty Easter Pictures

Watch your mail in the coming weeks because one of these darling pictures below is headed to the mailboxes of all our family and friends! Chris and I took Sydney in today to get some professional pictures in her Easter dress. Normally I wouldn't do a special professional picture for an Easter dress, but this was a special flower-girl-turned-Easter dress, and she was so darling in it that I just couldn't resist! Dresses and occasions like this are one of the million reasons I am thankful to God every day that He blessed us with a daughter. Sydney is so sweet and she looks it in this gorgeous dress.

Sydney's Room

Finally, after living in our house for almost 10 months, Chris and I have finished Sydney's room! We painted right before we moved in, but we could never decide what we wanted to do for the rest of the room. We wanted something bright and pretty, something that would be perfect for a baby, but something she could grow into as well. It's finally done! Enjoy...

These letters took Chris so long to put up, but it makes it so pretty! We just selected the border last month, and it matches the table and chairs my parents got her for her first birthday.


Sydney's bed and shelf with her baby bonnets.


Changing table and dresser. This dresser was Chris' mother's, so we're proud to be able to pass it on to Sydney.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter to all our friends and family! We hope you all had a wonderful Easter day celebrating the miracle of life that is possible from Christ. We had a great Easter weekend. We went to church and saw the choir perform, and we had a fantastic ham dinner with my family. It was extra special as my sister, Abbie, just made it home in time. Abbie is in the band and U of O and was playing in Arkansas for the March Madness tournament. Sydney had a great time this Easter! Last year we got her all dressed up and she didn't really understand what was going on. This year, she loved getting her Easter baskets! She was absolutely beautiful in her flower girl dress that she wore last month, except we replaced the purple petals for pink ones. She even had a matching purse and hairbow! It was such a blessed day!

Beach Trip

This past weekend we went to the beach with friends for my birthday. We rented a house in Gearhart and had a great time! The weather wasn't the greatest, but we had lots of fun staying in and playing games. We went to the Seaside boardwalk one day, and shopping another day. Because of the rain, we didn't get to make smores outside, so we lit a fire in the fireplace one evening and made smores inside! We had such a nice weekend and can't wait to go back this summer when the weather is nice!

Sicko, Part II

Sorry it's been a while since we've had an update. We have been dealing with, as some of our friends have been calling it, the Bubonic Plague. In other words, that nasty GI sickness that has been going around. At last count, we were one of ten families, all of us good friends, that have it. Poor Sydney has had it the worst. She woke up Friday throwing up, but seemed to do great the rest of the day. Then, Saturday it hit her so bad, and she has been miserable ever since. Today, however, she has kept everything down (I am mentally knocking on wood, the day is not yet over), although we haven't given her much except lots of fluids. Today it also hit Chris, so now he is doing his fair share of puking, also. It's been lots of laundry and worry here. Our couch looks like a horrible garage sale find as it is currently covered in many blankets to prevent any puke from staining it. Hopefully tomorrow Sydney will be better (all of our friends say the fourth day is much better) and maybe this will short-lived for Chris. Please keep us in your prayers, especially our dear little Sydney. She is so thin already and she doesn't have much in the way of reserves. It is always a challenge to keep weight on her, so please pray that she will recover quickly from this illness. She has been so wonderful during her sickness, still smiling and sweet, just very tired. We'll let you all know when this is over.

Sicko

Hello everyone out there. Well, it's been a crazy week. I thought I better get on here and let you all know that I am fine, but I had to spend 2 nights in the hospital this week. Last Sunday I went to bed feeling completely fine and woke up in the middle of the night with a horrible GI upset. I didn't think much of it, but Monday it just got worse and worse, so I called Chris home from work and we went to the ER. After waiting 4 hours in the waiting room with my giant stainless mixing bowl/barf basin, I finally was seen. At that point, it had been 24 hours since anything had gone in and stayed down. They gave me a few liters of IV fluids and a bunch of meds, but nothing was helping. My heartrate was REALLY high because of the intense dehydration, so I was actually admitted to the cardiac floor on a heart monitor. This is really ironic since I work on a cardiac floor, so I totally knew what was going on. I got a total of 6 liters of IV fluids and still couldn't keep anything down for another day, but after 2 nights in the hospital I finally got to go home. I am feeling much better now, but had to take the weekend off from work to rest. Sydney did great the whole week. Chris and my mom brought her to the hospital very often to visit me. She couldn't understand why she couldn't play with my IV or the heart monitor wires, but other than that she was amazing, as always. Thank you to all your prayers for my continued recovery.

Outside

The weather has been unseasonably warm this past week, up to the low 60's, and nice and sunny. Yesterday Sydney and I took advantage of this nice weather and went outside for her afternoon snack. She was being so cheesy for the camera, it was so cute! She even shared some of her goldfish crackers with me-such a nice girl! There is nothing better than an afternoon outside with my sweet Sydney, goldfish crackers and all!

A Night at the Oscars

Last weekend we went to Matt and Melissa's to watch the Oscars. They actually had a huge Oscar party where everyone placed bets on who would win. The winner of the most right in all categories was...Dara! Actually, I tied for first with another team and won a whopping $13.00, plus a really cool martini shaker (since it was hosted at the Marteney's...get it). We enjoyed watching the presentations and seeing what all the actors/actresses were wearing. The fashion is always one of the best parts of the evening (Sydney was stunning in a crimson sweater by Old Navy paired with jeans from the Gap, while Madison was the height of all fashion in a khaki colored jumper from Osh Kosh). Sydney and Madison had a great time playing together and they emptied out a couple of Melissa's kitchen drawers a few times. This top picture just cracks me up, they look like they are partners in crime here, ready to get into trouble! We had a blast and can't wait to do it again next year.

Tom and Heather's Wedding

One of my best friends, Heather, just got married on February 2. It was a beautiful wedding, and Sydney and I were in it. It was Sydney's first time to be a flower girl! Unfortunately, she was not too happy that day, either from getting in new teeth or wearing the most adorable puffy dress. Both Sydney and Brody, the ring bearer who is 10 months old, cried all the way down the aisle! It was a great day, though, and a beautiful start to a happy and blessed marriage.

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! We hope you all had a nice day. We stayed home since Sydney is getting molars and is still not very happy about it, but we had a great day anyway. Sydney helped me make my favorite sugar cookies for Chris, and she even got to lick the beaters, which she loved! Then, it was such a nice, clear day that we went for a walk when Chris got home from work. My mom brought over the best cookies ever, from Beaverton Bakery. She always gets one for everyone with their name on it, so even though Sydney had already had lots of sugar, she got to eat part of her cookie from Grandma. Chris brought me the most beautiful bouquet of red roses, and I got him three small boxes of chocolate in sports ball shaped boxes (one baseball, one basketball, and one football). It turned out to be a nice, quiet Valentine's Day. It sure is fun to celebrate even these little holidays with Sydney. She is such a blessing!

A few moments...

Here are a few moments from our busy week. Last week Sydney's friend Eli came over to play for a few hours. They had a great time, but I'm not sure Eli knew what to do with all those pink toys! It was fun to see them together and it sure was different to have a boy around!


Sydney had been getting molars, and on this particular day she had wild hair and was flushed from her fever from getting teeth in. It made such a funny picture, it doesn't even look like her!


We hosted the men's poker night last weekend, so Chris and Sydney posed for this picture while I was setting up. They sure do look alike!


I love these pink Converse on her! These last pictures really show how thin she is. We joke that she has no junk in the trunk!

Long Distance Shower

One of the ladies from my mom's group at church moved to Fresno a few months ago. She and her husband are expecting their third child next month. Since we can't be there with her and she can't be here with us, we decided to throw her a long distance shower. We all got together this morning at our usual group time and had a blast throwing the shower. We took lots of pictures and video taped the whole thing, including us opening the presents we got her, and we'll send all the presents and the video down to Fresno to our friend Christa. Christa, we miss you and love you and can't wait to to hear that your new son has arrived.

13.5 Months

Our little Sydney is growing up to be quite the little lady. She is almost 14 months old, she weighs 19.5 lbs, and has 8 teeth. Her molars will come in any day now. She pretty much is done with baby food. She eats mostly regular food with the exception of fruit. She still doesn't like regular fruit, but she'll take it out of the jar. She crawls so fast and pulls up to a standing position, although she still won't walk. She's still pretty lazy! She figures she can get there crawling, so why bother to walk?! She is a silly girl and makes us laugh all the time. She continues to be an amazing blessing in our life and every day we thank God for her.

The Complete Chia

After 2.5 weeks, my chia head is all grown out! It has been fun to watch it grow, so thanks Abbie for the fun and unique Christmas gift! Here is the final picture.

Superbowl Party

Chris and I love football, so of course every year we host a Superbowl party. This year's party was so much fun. Sydney was all ready to go in her football jersey and she played with her pink Nike football all day.


We had lots of football decorations around the house, but the only one I took a picture of was the flowers, which had mini Giants and Patriots flags in them.


We always have Matt, Melissa, and Madison over for the big game, but this year we also had our friends Scott and Tracey and their son Kian, who is six weeks younger than Sydney and Madison. The three kids had a blast playing together all afternoon. My dad also came and enjoyed spending some time with Sydney and all the kids.


Madison was REALLY into the commercials!


Sydney was playing, but Madison was still watching those commercials! My favorite was the Godfather one with the motor oil all over the bed.