Ezra-26 months

So, maybe slightly more interesting to most of you than pictures of ovens...

It's been a while since I've posted pictures of Ezra. He is still as goofy and funny as ever. He talks all the time these days and is pretty good at communicating most of the time. He gets easily frustrated as I am sure all two year olds do. Some of his favorite phrases are "I yike it," "Choke-it meeoke" (chocolate milk), and "Yuck! Yucky! Yuck! See?" (Look! Looky! Look!) when he wants us to look at something, mostly when we're passing it in the car. 

Silly kid...

 He likes to stack things. We've been working a lot on letters and numbers. One of my favorite things is his rendition of the alphabet. When he gets to the middle, he says "H I J I'm okay Q R S." I guess LMNOP sounds like I'm okay to him. As far as numbers goes, he'll count to twelve, then say "thirteen, seventeen" over and over again.

 He also loves to imitate Chad.

 Sweet boy.

Before & after

Attempts at craftiness

I have been having fun making some things for Ivy. The thing is, I don't really make things, I mostly buy things that other people make. My whole life I've gone through crafty "spurts," such as teaching myself to knit a few years ago, and the one Chad teases me the most about--mosaics. Yeah, that one was short-lived, but lasted long enough that I invested in tile nippers, glue, and lots of old ceramic plates from goodwill. Anyway, here is a little peek into the fabric I've chosen for Ivy's bedding which my much, much more talented friend Emily is sewing for her. I pulled out my sewing machine the other day and made a minkie blanket. Above that is a bow holder. Yes, an entire holder for bows. Apparently that is the kind of thing you need when you have a girl that isn't on your radar when you have a boy. I saw something similar to this at one of the many baby showers I attend. I bought an open-back frame at hobby lobby and a few different rolls of ribbon, cut a piece of foam board to fit inside the frame, and used a lot of packing tape and hot glue to attach it all. Then I bought some alligator clips and glued some grosgrain ribbon to those and made some little flower hair clips to test the sturdiness of my new bow holder. 

I am hoping that we can move Ezra into our guest room (which will be his room) soon, but we have to wait until our master bathroom is done with being remodeled because right now everything from our closet has taken over the guest room and we are sleeping in there most nights because of all the dust. The plan is to move him to a regular bed with plenty of time before Ivy gets here so we don't need to convert the crib or buy a second crib. Funny how with my first pregnancy, 4 months felt like FOREVER before the baby got here, and now I feel like we are SO CLOSE to her being here...this pregnancy is going by really fast. Anyway, I will be excited when we can move Ezra so I can start transforming his little boy nursery into one for a sweet little girl.

We have a name!

Just wanted to let y'all know that we decided on a name for our little girl. Her name will be Ivy Noelle. We love the name, and I'm excited that we were able to come to an agreement so quickly. When we named Ezra we had two names that we liked, and we waited until after he was born to officially name him. This time around we chose Ivy's name with 4 months to spare. Noelle is my middle name so that's where we got that. Ezra will just say "Baby Ivy" randomly throughout the day, which is pretty adorable. We can't wait to put a face with a name in four months!

September menu

It is already mid-September and I'm just getting around to planning my menu. That might tell you what September has been like so far for us...crazy, lots of traveling for Ezra and me, Ezra starting school, remodeling the house, Ezra being sick for a week, etc. etc. I also decided I'm going to try lots of new recipes this month, thanks to pinterest. I also pulled out some older ones that I haven't made in a while. It took me a long time to come up with what we're eating this month...I've just been in a planning and cooking rut.

Tuscan garlic chicken  (had this tonight and it was really good. Make sure you use shredded, not grated, parmesan, and it probably wouldn't be good as leftovers)
Crispy southwest chicken wraps
Cheesy potato soup & sandwiches
Creamy chicken enchiladas
Soft tacos & homemade flour tortillas
Coconut chicken
Ultimate beef stroganoff
Jalapeno popper chicken
Marlboro man sandwiches
Salmon cakes, couscous with dried dates
Creamy chicken taquitos
Chicken cordon bleu
Marinated flank steak
Pork & ginger potstickers
Cheddar baked chicken
Chick-fil-a knockoff nuggets
Chicken tortellini bake
Chicken Parmigiana

If you have never tried couscous before, PLEASE try it! It is an easy side dish that is just a tiny little pasta. I use chicken broth to make it and I love the recipe above. You can also get whole wheat couscous that offers a few more health benefits. I don't post most of my side dishes but I'm sure we'll be seeing some asparagus, green beans, sweet potato fries or baked sweet potatoes, fruit or fruit salad, green salad, and rice/beans/chips and salsa with the Mexican dishes. Let me know if you try any of these recipes and enjoy them!

Sugar, spice and everything nice...

That's what baby Montandon is made of! We are so excited to be having a baby GIRL! Ezra would be excited too...except that he has no clue what's going on. 

Here she is! Cutest little profile ever. I had a "feeling," and just so you know, my "feelings" are not very accurate, that I would be having another boy. We were at the ultrasound and Chad and I both glimpsed the girl parts before our sonographer even asked if we wanted to know what it was. So we had a couple minutes to let it sink in before she told us we were having a baby girl.

 Already doing her senior picture pose...(fist under the chin)

And I just had to go out and buy a couple cute things. The thing about my second child is that she'll probably wear mostly hand-me-downs...including a bunch of the stuff I bought at our local consignment store. Why would I pay full price for a brown dress with pink polka dots on it (brand new with original tags, by the way) when I could get it there for $4? 

I'm just not ready for all the pink yet. You can see by my choices of clothing that pink doesn't play a very big role. I like bright colors. And since she will be using Ezra's current nursery, her bedding has to have red in it because I already have a red rug.

Since people will ask probably, no, we do not have a name picked out (although I've been thinking about it all my life), and we haven't even discussed it. Soon enough I'm sure!

Ezra starts school

Yesterday was Ezra's first day of SuperKids, our church's Tuesday/Thursday school. He had a blast! This was the only picture he would let me take of him with his backpack on. He sensed that something was up and did not want to cooperate for the camera. He wouldn't eat anything for breakfast either.

Before heading in to his classroom

Ezra walked straight to the books when we got to his class. He did not acknowledge us. I think he liked it. 

 

This is how we found him when we went to pick him up. Still reading a veggie tales book and having a good time! His teacher said he slept on his nap mat for over an hour, which I was so relieved about since he has ONLY slept in a crib or pack n play and ONLY in a room by himself. He had a great time!

Me and my friends

A group of my friends decided a few months back to take a girl's trip during Labor Day weekend. A few of us are turning 30 in the next few months, so we thought that was a great excuse to stay in a hotel, shop, and eat good food for a few days. We stayed in the Allen area and hit up the outlet mall, Ikea, and a few other places that we don't have in our little city. We ate at In-n-out (which I hadn't been to since we lived in Prescott and forgot how yummy it is), La Madeleine, Chuy's, and Cheesecake Factory. We got to go see a movie, stay up late, kind of sleep in a little bit, and just have fun. How blessed I am to have such a close group of godly women to call my friends! I love each and every one of them. 

 Elena and I are solo shoppers and ended up finishing at the outlet mall way before everyone else...this is us sitting at the bench at Aldo.

 The damage we did at the outlet mall. This is pre-Ikea and Container store, but in our defense, there were eight of us in one car!

 I would go to Chuy's ALL THE TIME if we had one in Lubbock. Chuy's owners, take note.

 Back at the hotel after a long day of shopping.

Before & afters-exterior

We have started the home remodel process and the first step was repairing some rotted wood on the outside of the house and repainting.

Before...
After. The color was picked based on the new windows that we ordered which will be installed in the next couple weeks we hope. Once we get those in the house will look a bit different. The shutters are just black in case you can't tell from the picture. And a lot less interesting: we replaced our entry hallway and hallway to the bedroom light fixtures. I don't know when these are from, but probably the 80s.
This is just a fluorescent lightbulb. Anything would have been a vast improvement.
After.
I think up next will be the windows and then probably the kitchen counters & oven. It will be a while before the bathrooms are finished considering they haven't even started.

Love this kid

A day in the life of a two year old

1. Wake up; eat breakfast; read books in the tunnel.
2. Empty most of the toybox; climb in said toybox; empty the rest of the toys.3. Enjoy a fun time coloring with mommy; request that mommy draw "happy" on your face; cry uncontrollably when mommy fulfills the request. 4. Enter two-year-old nirvana when your mom gets you a chocolate ice cream cone from Sheridan's and lets you eat it in your carseat on the way home.
5. Repeat.

Almost 19 weeks

And craving ice cream/frozen yogurt, chewy fruity candy, big macs, fruit, milk, and Dr. Pepper.

And just for a comparison, here is a picture of me at 20 weeks with Ezra (because I just don't know if I'll get around to taking another picture next week...)

A friend from camp posted on her blog these thoughts, taken from Sarah Young's Jesus Calling daily devotional. How tempting it is to make idols of our children and our husbands--to put them up on a pedestal and to allow them to occupy our thoughts and priorities when God should be lifted up above everything. This was very relevant for me at this point in my life, so I wanted to share.

"Entrust your loved ones to Me; release them into My protective care. They are much safer with Me than in your clinging hands. If you let a loved one become an idol in your heart, you endanger that one-as well as yourself. Remember the extreme measures I used with Abraham and Isaac. I took Isaac to the very point of death to free Abraham from son-worship. Both Abraham and Isaac suffered terribly because of the father's undisciplined emotions. I detest idolatry, even in the form of parental love. When you release loved ones to Me, you are free to cling to My hand. As you entrust others into My care, I am free to shower blessings on them. My Presence will go with them wherever they go, and I will give them rest. This same Presence stays with you, as you relax and place your trust in Me. Watch to see what I will do."

Ezra-isms

...and other things I want to remember...
Cake-dya (Quesadilla)
Bammy (Bambi)
Bebgie Tales (Veggie Tales)
WoodyBuzz, pronounced more like "weebuss" (Toy Story)
Pocksuckle (popsicle)
Sue me (Smoothie)
Sockle (snuggle--he uses this to get out of going to bed)
Bitsies (Itsy bitsy spider)
Wow beets (shells & cheese. We have NO IDEA what he is trying to say).
Mackis cheese (mac & cheese)
Paypake (pancake)
Big mommy (commenting on my ever-growing tummy. Thanks a lot Ez!)
No way (his version of no...I'm not a fan.)

Lately bedtime has become my favorite time of day with Ezra. He has always been pretty good at going to bed, but now we really have our little ritual down and it is the sweetest time of day. We usually read two books (Ezra likes "Each Peach Pear Plum," "Where the Wild Things are" and "The Little Mouse, the Big Hungry Bear and the Red Ripe Strawberry"). We say a prayer and he lists those he is thankful for, usually ending with "all us people." We sing a song or two...Jesus loves me, God made the big round sun, Itsy bitsy spider, etc. Ezra usually picks that too. My favorite thing about nighttime is when Ezra puts a hand on each side of my face and gives me a kiss or rubs our noses together. So sweet.

Pregnancy update

Well guys, I went today for my "Just shy of 18 weeks" appointment. Everything was good and the heartbeat was just under 150. I tried to finagle my doctor into letting me do the anatomy ultrasound before I go with some girlfriends on a shopping trip to Dallas on Labor Day weekend, and he said if I was willing to take the gamble of having an ultrasound before 20 weeks (chancing that baby would be uncooperative because it was earlier than you're "supposed" to find out the sex) then that would be okay. Considering I would be about 19 weeks and 4 days and it would have allowed me to shop for the baby that weekend, I was willing to take that gamble. My doctor said, "You know, we don't do ultrasounds to find out the sex of the baby, we do them to check all the anatomy and make sure everything looks good." He also informed me that if we weren't able to find out the baby's sex at this pre-20 week appointment, then he would not schedule an ultrasound two weeks later just to determine the sex. What a stick in the mud! :) Anyway, nothing was going to deter me. Except when my nurse called to schedule the appointment, the ultrasound office said that they would not schedule an anatomy appointment for pre-20 weeks. My nurse said that that was the first time they had ever told her that. Anyway, I ended up scheduling for September 6, the weekend after my trip. So look for an announcement soon after that. I'm still thinking it's a boy, but it's nice to truly not care whether we have a boy or a girl. Here in just a couple weeks, we'll know for sure...hopefully. I have some names I've been mulling over in my head, but Chad and I haven't seriously discussed names really at all.

We have also been continuing to meet with contractors and sub-contractors to get work done on the house. We went to a granite yard this afternoon and picked out our countertops for the kitchen and bathrooms. I made a decision pretty quickly--granite yards aren't my favorite place to hang out at 4:00 in the afternoon on a hot August day, and there were just a few choices in our price range (read: the lowest price available). I picked out the same granite for all three counters. I think it is going to look really pretty. I have a sample that I'll take a picture of and post at some point. Now, all we have to pick out is backsplash for the kitchen, all the tile and fixtures for both bathrooms, and every other little detail. Decisions, decisions. I am excited about getting started but I am much more excited about it all being finished. Right now, the plan is to re-do pretty much everything in both bathrooms and just the counters and backsplash in the kitchen. I'm hoping we'll have enough in our budget to put a double oven in the kitchen. We also plan to paint the outside of the house, replace all the bedroom and bathroom windows, and put new blinds and shutters on all the windows. It should look very nice and updated when all is said and done. And hopefully all will be said and done before this baby comes.

I'll try to take another belly picture soon and post it...it's been a while.

Home Improvement

When we got home last week we hit the ground running to get started on some improvements we are making to our home. Some are major, like re-doing the bathrooms, replacing kitchen counters and painting the exterior of the house, and some are just little things that have been bugging us for a while but we haven't gotten around to doing anything about. We are hiring a contractor to do the big stuff and Chad got to work doing some of the other things on the list. Here are a couple pictures of things we've done, stay tuned for more interesting stuff. We're hoping to get it all done before the baby comes in a few months.

New porch light! After reading the post about Apple a few posts down, I would like to say "you're welcome" for not telling the story about returning 3 light fixtures to Lowe's and then spending an hour in another lighting store before choosing this one single light. I realize nobody cares about this but me and maybe my mom. This is what I'm excited about. Chad used chalkboard paint on the wall that faces our fridge and I love it! The bottom part is for Ezra to color on and the top part is mine. It turned out really good and I think I'm going to really enjoy it. The last thing Chad did this week was paint all the baseboards and chair rail trim in the guest bedroom. We are planning to move Ezra to that bedroom and keep the nursery as-is with maybe different bedding if we have a girl, but the green room will be Ezra's room, and if we have another boy, they'll share eventually.

So...that's all for now. Sorry if it bored you. Scroll down--I've posted 4 times tonight.

More pictures of the summer

These pictures are in no particular order. I took this one day when this little cub was found underneath the nurse's porch during Bible class. He is in the back of the game warden's truck. The game warden started driving off and the cub jumped out and ran down to the playground where another cabin was having class. Wayland ran down and grabbed it by its hide and put it back in the truck. Ezra with his buddy Jessica. She was such a help to me so many times during the summer and he adored her.

Ezra and Wayland the Bear Hunter/Skinner. They are also big buddies.
With Jessica the counselor.
With Candace.
Trying out the Rackleys' massage chair. Many of these pictures are courtesy Wayne Rackley.
This is a funny story. Jared and Britni got married during 2nd session and Wayland and Chad signed as witnesses on their marriage certificate. Then Britni filled out a part of the marriage certificate where you put in the bride and groom's names, but she thought that you were supposed to put the witnesses' names there. So Wayland and Chad were listed as bride and groom on their marriage certificate. Jennifer made them a cake and everything. Kandis and I were wondering if that made our marriages null and void.
Ezra occupies himself with sunflower seeds at the Brocks' wedding at Barillas lookout.
Ezra LOVED John Alan and Matt. Maybe it had something to do with their Toy Story outfits at one of the banquets. No, it probably had more to do with these guys showing him so much love and attention. For the first few weeks Ezra called John Alan "outside" because JA would always take him outside during meals and Ezra loved it. He finally got the hang of his name and now prays for John Alan and Matt on a regular basis.
Ezra loved trying on Wayland's hat.
This is the face Ezra put on for the first couple weeks of camp. He was skeptical of everything. I guess when he realized we weren't going anywhere he decided to lighten up.
Another one of Ezra and Jessica.
Love this sweet picture--thanks Wayne.
Um, I think he is hanging on to a deer antler? Hmmm.
I always mean to write stuff down or at least start blog drafts while we are at camp, but I never do. So then it gets to the end of the summer when we're all settled at home and I forget everything that I wanted to say. That happened this year again. It was a great summer. We knew better what we were doing and things were not so hectic. We enjoyed getting to know the permanent staff and the session staff. Many of those people have become like family to us. I especially enjoyed our college aged permanent staff and how sweet they were to Ezra. He just loved them, and they loved him too. What a blessing it is to have so many people that love your child. I am so thankful for the time we get to spend at camp and for the examples that these guys and girls are and will continue to be to my children.