Prayer is Powerful

I have to take a moment and ask for those of you who read my blog to please go to Kellie's blog and read about her sweet baby. Kellie follows my blog and I remember when she told me she was pregnant. She is a wonderful mother, and always has the sweetest spirit.

http://kandjstaats.blogspot.com/

Kellie's sweet baby saw the Lord a couple of weeks ago. No one really knows why, she was sleeping at her babysitter's house, but we know that the Lord was ready for her to come home. She needs to be lifted up in prayer. Her sweet girl Maddie was only 4 months old. To have a precious miracle taken away from you is always questionable...but with prayer her and her husband will definitely feel more comforted. Several people are hosting an auction for their family on Monday. You can view things for the auction and even purchase things if you'd like. Prayer is the greatest gift of all.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44960&id=186874161353204

Happy Birthday Sweet Eloise Betty!

so, i'm an idiot. I had this post all done...and then I went back and saw that I didn't even post a picture of the COOKIES and MILK table. Hmm...her theme WAS Cookies and MILK! So..now some of the pics are out of order. Here are the Mason jars that the adults drank out of. Children had their choice of white, chocolate or strawberry milk and they had 5 different cookies to choose from.

Now on to the real post....from the beginning.

How in the world could I possibly have a one year old? I can remember the day of Eloise's birth like it was yesterday. Since I was induced, I was able to get up and shower, and make myself look all pretty....but something didn't feel right. I asked Walt if we could go into Eloise's room and pray together, and then once we got to the hospital, I asked my doctor what was the percentage that something would go wrong. I just had this feeling. Long story short, Eloise took a while to get here, and once she was here she had to fight for a couple of days. And now...I have a happy, healthy, beautiful, if I do say so myself, one year old.
Where did the year go?
How did I get so lucky?
I remember the long, sleepless nights....those are long gone
I remember a sweet baby who was eating every three hours...that is no more
Looking back in her baby book, during the first month I noted that she stayed up all night long....I now have a baby that goes to bed at 7 and sleeps until 7
Hard? Beyond belief.
Worth it? To know that I get to wake up and experience a miracle every single day...guess that's a yes, huh?
Thank you God for allowing me to be a mother.
and
Thank you God for giving me a wonderful, loving family...with a pint sized little blessing that makes everything all worth it.

Eloise's 1st birthday party was on her actual birthday, Feb. 19th. The theme was cookies and milk; therefore, everything was pink, brown and white. (chocolate, white and strawberry milk)
We had about 40 guests at our house and it was so fun.
My family and Walt's family came in (except for my sis who live in North Carolina)
and all of our closest friends were there. Eloise had a blast! She definitely LOVED the cake, and we were overwhelmed with gifts!
On Eloise's actual birthday she was semi walking around...well, it is now Thursday and we have an official "walker" on our hands! She kind of looks like the Michelin Tire Man (that big blimp)when she walks...it is quite humorous.
Walt took her to get her one year shots on Monday.
E is in the 50th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height.

Here was the candy table

Eloise's smash cake
which was soooo yummy! it was just a chocolate cake with buttercream icing, but
OMG

The birthday cake for our guests

guests were given party favors that were pre-made cake mix! I figured it was only fitting if they were at a cookies and milk themed birthday party.
I don't think I can ever look at another m&m again.
I had to separate all of the red m&m's from Valentine's out of the mixes...we now have like 3 tupperware full of red m&ms.

up close picture of the favors

guest were greeted with a montage of Eloise's 12 month pictures.
I thought this turned out really cute and it was neat to see how she has grown.

the mantle.
I picked a favorite picture from each month of her life thus far

momma and daddy
with the
birthday girl!!
we are all in brown, pink, and white!

time to sing "happy birthday!"

this little ham LOVED all the attention...
she just clapped, and clapped once everyone started singing

mmm...cake is good

the cake is really good

and I decided there was no reason as to why she HAD to wear a bib
it's just cake....it came out when we washed it....
and we had another outfit to change into

some of our friends
Carson is the 1st friend Eloise EVER met
Stella is Eloise's first real GIRL friend

Colton with his momma and daddy
Eloise and Colton go to the same homecare....
I would totally be ok if they ended up together

me and with part of my team

brother and sister

momma and daddy bought Eloise a "pink cozy coupe" for her birthday
I think you can tell by her face...that she LOVED it.

opening up some gifts

see that outfit change? So precious

Eloise was baptized the next day at our church, St. Luke's United Methodist.
Ironically enough the sermon was about imperfect parents raising imperfect children...it could not have been MORE Perfect.
Eloise's grandparents, aunts, uncles, great aunt and uncle, and our closest friends were there.
Before we got out of the car I asked God to send His blessings down upon her...what do you know that little angel slept the entire sermon. :)
We then all came back to the house and had lunch together.
It was perfect.
The weekend was perfect.
Now we are just all trying to recoup in this house.
With a walker on our hands...it's pretty difficult.

James 1:7 "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

E's Birthday

Blog post coming soon about this little one's FIRST birthday! I have too much to say and share...I need to collect all my thoughts! It will be a good one though, I promise!!
But, let me tell you...she LOVED cake!

TOO cute to NOT share....

.we are in LOVE with this little chunk of heaven.


.and SHE is in love with this itty bitty chunk of heaven.

If I had to rate it, I'd give it a 10....

Our weekend officially started on Thursday night. There was all this "hype" that Houston was going to get some of the snow that the rest of Texas received, so school was called off for our "snow" day Thursday night. We woke up Friday morning to absolutely nothing. NOTHING. Supposedly there was ice on the road in Houston, and of course, that is ALL they covered on Friday. I was slightly depressed. One because there wasn't any snow, but two because I was at home and couldn't even watch any of my morning shows, since Houston had the news on ALLLLL day. But...on the bright side...I was able to stay home with my baby, and my baby daddy...although, we do have to make up our snow day in two weeks. Boo on that one. So, Friday was spent inside all day long, just loving on my baby, and Friday night Walt and I watched a movie together.

Saturday was great...Eloise and I had a birthday party to go to. Eloise's first friend, Carson turned 1 this weekend! I used to work with his momma, and it was fun being pregnant with Miss Jodee. Carson's party was filled with little toddlers everywhere, all whom were very close in age with Eloise. Eloise experience cake for the first time, which of course, she loved...and we are now just so excited about her first birthday! While E and I were at the party, Walt drove to Houston to watch the Baylor Bears dominate against the Aggies! He was able to watch the game with his guy friends...and thank goodness, I was home in time to watch the game, and I nervously flipped back and forth between the game and a movie that was on. When Baylor plays like that it makes me nervous...but so proud of my Bears!

Me and Eloise before the party
we knew she would get dirty eating cake, but we
had to wear some sort of party dress!!

Daddy's girls....

I was very impressed with how neat Carson is when he eats...very impressed.
Sweet little birthday boy

Jenette and Baby Stella...
12 weeks old!!

Eloise met a new friend, Caroline...they are exactly ONE day apart!!

Eloise loved Miss Jenette's necklace...it tasted yummy!

Cutest thing at the party...
Carson was opening presents, and he received a pillow pal...
he literally just laid down right on top of it...
precious!

playing with the toys

Eloise being sweet, and offering to share

Here is my stinker at home playing around...
we didn't nap at all on Saturday...
She hates crawling around in dresses, so I had to tie up her dress...
she's such a mess..
but it's hard not to love her!

On Saturday night, Walt and I were able to go out....and be with friends.
My sweet friend, Sarah Milliman graciously agreed to watch little E while Walt and I went to Sue's surprise birthday party in Houston. Thank goodness for friends. Sarah is always there to help us out when needed. So, Walt and I went to dinner at Uptown Sushi with our friends, Pat and Brett, and then we headed to the party. We had our own private karaoke room and everything. It was so fun...so much fun, that I didn't take my camera out too much to get pictures.
McKamy definitely stole the spotlight with his singing skills all night long...
Here he is singing, "Baby Got Back" with Washko...perfect song

Me and Brett just hanging out

Having a fun night out with my main man...
ole' walter creagg bass jr.

and me with the birthday girl!!
Love my Sue!

Today was perfect! Walt got up and took care of Eloise, which never happens. I don't know what was wrong..you would think that I can't function without sleep. We got home at 1 and Eloise woke up at 7...and I felt like I had been run over by a train...so I slept until 9, and it was great. We then went grocery shopping, and came home and ALL THREE OF US took a nap, this never happens either. It was AWESOME! After the nap, we went for a walk in out 70 DEGREE weather, in the new BOB DOUBLE stroller that Lalee and Pops got us for Christmas and it was SOOOOO worth it! Perfect ending to a perfect weekend.
and I decided I would sign off with a picture of my belly at 7 months...if you didn't think there was a belly at 6 months, well there definitely is one there now. It really is true when people say you wake up one day and BAM. I can still fit into all of my regular jeans, withOUT a bella band...but, it is getting a little bit more difficult to do things. Walt and I have less than 12 weeks left until we become parents of 2 children under the age of 15 months. But what a ride it will be...and I wouldn't want to spend it with anyone else other than Walt.
Check out the belly...I go in tomorrow to see how much weight I have gained...