"For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD: thou art my trust from my youth." Psalm 71:5
Another teething ring anklet...
Needless to say, Megan had bathtime afterwards!!I just couldn't decide on one...or two! :-) Yesterday afternoon, Megan and I went to my friend Rachael's for a visit. Here's Megan with her friend, Evan... they stared and poked at each other, mostly; but, then Evan shared his cars for them to play with.
Our Megan is finally paid for! Made the last payment to the anesthesiologist yesterday... Ben joked a few days ago that he'd soon have his two favorite girls paid for, and then what would he do with them?! :-) We've got about a year of payments left on my school loan... what an expensive wife I was/am!
Then, these were taken a couple of Sundays ago. Megan is getting some love from Uncle Ray... (all I heard was a lot of laughter going on while I was practicing with the kids' choir! I saw the pictures later...)
I am aware that when she's older, Uncle Ray will show his love in other ways - like spittails...
Megan certainly can't ever say she doesn't get enough attention! My parents left yesterday morning, and Ben's parents came over last night for dessert. Megan, again, put on quite the show. She definitely has daddy and both her grandpas wrapped around those chunky fingers of hers! She really chatters and giggles with them!
...(my parents are coming tomorrow for the weekend), but, I couldn't resist sharing a few pictures I took this morning.
Megan just figured out that if you pull the orange strap on her elephant mirror, the music plays and the mouse moves. She's been entertaining herself all morning...well, for a good, long period of time, anyways! LOL!
See the look of determination on her face?!
Just spied mama and the camera:
She is so adorable...sorry, I can't help but gush! :-) She makes my heart melt when she smirks at me!
Starting Tuesday night, we got our first real measureable snowfall of the year. The snow fell quickly, and the roads were pretty yucky. The first picture was taken Wednesday morning around 9:00. Ben was let out of work early, around 1:00...and, came home to shovel. The last picture, I took this morning around 8:30. Only snow flurries forecasted for today...and wind. Weatherman says the wind chills may reach 15 below!! I'm hoping that Ben is warm in his truck today...or inside Home Central with a cup of coffee! I doubt the latter!
If this is the only snowstorm we get for this winter, we'll be plenty happy! We've had such a nice, mild winter that we can't complain!
Hope everyone is staying toasty warm!
Here's the cuter one:
Megan gave daddy some peanut M&M's for Valentine's Day. She didn't give them very willingly, though!
In order for Ben to have a full dinner, we celebrated Valentine's Day tonight. Ben works late on Wednesdays (we meet at church) and also on Thursdays. So, tonight it had to be! I made Ben one of his favorite meals...meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Strawberry shortcake for dessert! Mmmm.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Are weekends ever NOT busy? :-) We had a weekend full of piles...
PILE #1: On Friday night, Ben came home with a truckload of insulation for our attic. As soon as Megan was down for the night, I shoved them up into the attic access hole, while Ben spread them out by the light of a flashlight. What a messy, dirty job!
PILE #2: Megan will be ready to move into 6-9 month-sized clothes within a few weeks, probably. I LOVE looking through all of the cute clothes...but, I dread the many piles and bags that overtake my living room and Megan's room. And, there's always that little in-between period...where some of the 3-6 month outfits will still fit, but, I need to go through the rest that doesn't fit and take them out of the drawers to make room for the new stuff. It's an all day job...or in my case, usually takes a few days! So, I started the process Saturday afternoon. A full basket and plastic drawer of new things...bags and bags of more clothes given to us (thank you, thank you, Nancy, Karen, Carla, and Danielle!!) I'm thinking we need a bigger house...!! (Rachael, see any "For Sale" signs near you, yet?!) :-) Here's Megan helping me sort...
(Megan got tired of helping quite quickly and decided to take a nap instead!) :-) Thankfully, I got everything sorted on Saturday. Now, I just have to wash everything and put it all in Megan's drawers.
I love when daddy plays with me!!
My new thing is sticking my tongue out...
Today marks the 3 year anniversary of the birth and death of our baby boy, Joshua Benjamin. During the midst of those days and weeks that followed, it was difficult to imagine how our lives could ever go on in a normal way. Both Ben and I were so numb and felt like we were in a horrible dream. Day by day, the pain has lessened. It will never completely go away...it never can. Anyone who has suffered the loss of a child at any stage of pregnancy or life, knows that.
I admit it...I've been very prideful of the fact that I've been able to keep Megan fairly clean and neat during mealtimes. Oh, sure, a little food on the face is par for the course...but, we've been able to keep it contained mostly around the mouth. No food in the ears, between the toes, on the ceiling, etc! Until tonight...
When mama tried to remove the highchair strap from her mouth, Megan decided to help me with the baby food jar. Sweet potatoes EVERYWHERE!!! And, believe me...I mean, everywhere!! And since we'd only had 3 spoonfuls beforehand, the jar had plenty enough to fling around! It was even plastered underneath the kitchen chair!! Amazingly, those socks on her feet? Not a sweet potato drop to be found!
Aaaah, live and learn...and, LAUGH!! :-)
Basically, you can think of it as paper scrapping... you layer "paper" and other elements into a layout, but, it's all done on your computer. No mess! You can crop your pictures without accidentally cutting up a real print. That "undo" button is your favorite friend!! Then, when you are happy with the finished layout, you can print it out...or, upload to some photo-printing service and have them print it for you...separately or into a bound book! It is fun, fun, fun!
Here's a page I did today (*Journaling reads, "You love your glasses! I think we have a ham on our hands!"). Click for a larger view:
*Credits: Candy Fairway kit by Peppermint Creative; Unraveled stitching by Tracy Blankenship; Layout template by Maryse Vincent*
Megan is 7 months old today!!! I can hardly believe it! No more itty bitty baby!
Grandpa and Grandma Peck came for a visit last night. They brought Megan a piano for Valentine's Day. She looks like a natural! Maybe she'll learn to play just as nice as her Grandma Waldron some day!
Here are two more pictures for you today. 
The first one, Megan spent at LEAST 5 minutes trying to remove her teething ring from around her foot. She never did succeed. And, the second, 
I took during her morning nap. She started out at the opposite end of the crib...but, looks like she was determined to get to Mr. Giraffe who was plenty happy by himself on the other end of the crib. She fell asleep with a firm grasp on his poor ear.
Another busy weekend... we did have a few hours to spend together as a family on Saturday, though. Ben took me to the mall in Big Flats, and we just wandered around. Most of the fun for us is people-watching.
Here's Megan testing out her big-girl-sitting-up Snoopy stroller before we left (thank you, Nancy!!). Her favorite part is the strap...she almost chewed a hole through it! Megan didn't pay any attention to anything else during her mall trip...she was intent on slobbering all over that strap!
We got a snack before we left the mall...and, because Megan looked adoringly at me (ok, at my cone), I couldn't resist giving her her first taste of ice cream. Mmmm...the chocolate all over her face said it all! Ben let her lick the straw from his vanilla shake...she seemed to heartily approve of both flavors! :-)
Getting ready for bed Saturday night... Daddy is reading Megan her (current) favorite book: Bubbles, Bubbles.
During my pregnancy, I remember worrying that Ginger would find the baby's crib to be a fun place for her own bed. I put aluminum foil in the crib to deter her...but, she never seemed to care anything about it. The only place Ginger seems to like is the drawer under Megan's crib. She often sleeps in it. Well...
I headed into Megan's room when we got home from church Sunday morning to change her diaper. It appeared that Ginger was occupying the changing table. She just yawned and blinked at me and went right back to purring. I've never seen her up there...but, she seemed pretty comfortable! Ben removed her...and, I hope it doesn't become her new habit!
It's COLD COLD COLD here! The wind makes it worse! I need to replace the battery on our thermometer, so I'm not sure of the exact temperature. Weather.com tells me it's 6 degrees... they're usually pretty close! So, I hope all of you are keeping WARM today!!
CONGRATULATIONS to Ben's cousin, Amy and her husband Doug on the birth of their baby boy, little Riley Carter. Riley was born yesterday morning, happy and healthy, and the new mommy is doing well, too. Megan and I went to visit them today. Megan seemed unimpressed with her new little cousin...she seemed much more interested in the TV that was on in the room!
Visiting the hospital today brought back memories of Megan's birth day! It was one of those days that I thought would never happen! Much of it is now a blur to me, but, I have hundreds of pictures to help jog my memory!
One thing I can't help but remember is all the excitement and joy I could feel from everyone around me. Our family and friends were just as excited as we were for the birth of our little girl! 
We thank the Lord every day for the wonderful blessing He has given us in our daughter.
(One of my favorite pictures...Daddy, Grandpa P, and our Pastor - basically, Megan's adopted grandpa! He was just as excited as everyone else!)
I can hardly believe it! Why, just yesterday it was January!!
