Our Pretty Little Lady turns 6!

Six years ago today I met a pretty little lady that would change my life forever. Her name is Ella Hope!! Today our beautiful little girl turns six. Seriously, where have the last six years gone? She has grown so fast, and grown into such a remarkable little girl too! This past year has been a big one for Ella. She graduated from pre-school in May, started Kindergarten in September, welcomed another baby brother in October, AND lost her first tooth!! I'd have to say she has had a pretty good year, make that a fantastic year. I feel very blessed everyday to have her in our lives, she truly is a gift from God, and I love her to the moon and back.

We will be celebrating her birthday this Sunday, December 19 with friends and family here at our home. She has her church Christmas program in the morning then the party will follow. Can't wait to spend another day with family and friends, I enjoy every chance we get to be together.

Editor in Training

I love this one as a pencil sketch.

I am kind of behind the times when it comes to editing pictures on the computer. Last week I found this new program, picasa 3, and thought that I would take a shot at it. I would have to say that I think that I did a pretty good job, (according to me anyways). Now I just need to figure out to get a better quality picture, (resolution), because when I go to have any of these printed it will only do a 4 x 6 and anything other than that says to use a better resolution.

So if anybody knows how to do that and wants to let me in on the secret I would really appreciate it. I have so many ideas in my head of photos I would like to take, (one in particular) and edit so that I can have it enlarged a great deal.

I love how this one turned out!!

I HAVE CALLED YOU BY NAME AXEL AND YOU ARE MINE

On Sunday Novemeber 21st, we celebrated the baptism of Axel David. Other than the weather almost putting a damper on things, (we woke up to very icey roads), everything was perfect. All my family from Alexandria made it down, they are such troopers and I love them all. There was one close call though. My mom and Steve watched the trailer on the pickup in front of them start to fish tail and then roll several times into the ditch. They drove into the ditch (on purpose) and out again to avoid hitting anybody. Everybody was o.k. but very shook up.

We chose our friends, Tim and Melissa Hansen to be Axel's godparents, and what an excellent choice it was. They both love him very much and are always willing to help out in any way they can. We are certainly blessed to have such great friends.

.......And It's Out

After many weeks of wiggling, we have a tooth so loose that it's barely hanging on by a thread. The time has finally come to get it out!! Ella had decided that she wanted her dad to pull it out, which really surprised me. Is this the same little girl who thinks changing her earrings is going to hurt? Yep, it was, but after a little wiggle and a gentle tug, pop, the tooth was out. Now this was very exciting for all of us, as this is the first tooth to be lost in our house. Ella was right, she told us at the beginning of the school year that she can now lose her teeth because she is in kindergarten...too cute!!

Here she is, the toothless wonder! And just a side note, it won't be long till the one next is out also, as it is quite loose. Way to go Ella, and we love you lots!

Time Flys

I can't believe it, how fast time moves these days, that is. It seems like only yesterday that I was still pregnant, but it wasn't yesterday. It was one month ago today that I woke up feeling "just not right". There were no contractions or anything, something was just off. Call it mother's intuition or what ever you want, but some how I just knew that it was almost time to meet that new little being that had been growing and wiggling inside me for the past 38 weeks. It was a bittersweet moment for me, excited not to be sharing my body with someone else anymore, but at the same time sad that this will be the last time that I will ever feel that little person wiggling and kicking inside of me. I loved being pregnant, the miracle of birth, and how amazing the end result is when they place that tiny, perfect little miracle on your chest.

It was Sunday, 10-10-10, the day that I had picked out from the very beginning as the birthday for our new son. Never in a million years did I believe that he would actually decide to make his appearance on that day, but he did, and it was love at first sight. He was perfect, a perfect 10! I can't believe that Axel is 1 month old today, really, wear does the time go. I swear that with every baby the time just starts to move faster. No matter how hard I try to slow time down, I think it just moves that much faster in the wrong direction. So I have now come to realize that I must just enjoy every moment of everyday to it's fullest, the good and the bad.

So now our days are filled with the many feedings and diaper changes that a newborn demands, but I am enjoying every bottle and every dirty diaper knowing that we won't be doing this again. It is now time for us to just enjoy our children to the fullest. They are gifts from God and I love them with all of my heart.

Happy Halloween!!

Our Sweet Little Goblins!

Oh how I love this holiday!!! To see the pure joy and excitement on my kids faces is priceless. This year Ella was a cheerleader, yes, she is one of the most girly, girls you will ever meet and Owen and Axel were the two cutest skeletons ever!!! We started out in the afternoon visiting all the grandparents here in New London. They are so appreciative and grateful when we stop by to visit. From there we headed into Spicer to our church for some trunk-or-treating. This is a really neat idea. People from our church decorate their cars and then hand out candy from the trunk to all the kids. Then we hit our daycare and a co-worker of mine, and then off to the last set of grandparents. Brian then took Ella and Owen to a few houses around Eagle Lake and then back to the neighborhood in New London. I think that this is Owen's new favorite holiday, as he ended up with twice as much candy as Ella. Let's just say you don't want to let him pick his own candy because he always ended up with as many pieces his little hand would hold!!! Needless to say, we have way more candy than we need here, taking into consideration that we still have Easter and parade candy left too!!! Ta Ta For Now!!

Our Perfect 10

Big Brother Owen!
Proud Big Sister Ella!!

Look at those cheeks!

Well here he is...Axel David Eichhorst!! And who'd a thought that he would actually arrive on the date that I had picked from the start. My actual due date was 10-20-10, but going by past history, (Ella was 6 days early and Owen was 2 weeks early), I thought that shooting for 10 days early with this one was within reason. Call it a strong sense of mother's intuition or just a desire so strong, but whatever it was our newest little bundle decided that he wanted this most awesome birthday too. So there you have it Axel David was born on 10-10-10 at 6:09pm, (I wasn't about to wait until 10:10pm). He was 7lbs. 15oz and 21 inches long. The nurses even gave him two 10's on his apgar scoring to make him a perfect 10 across the board. (This last one was quite the honor since they rarely, if ever give out two 10's. They said that usually the first one is a 9 and the second is 10).

Everybody is adjusting well here. I was a little concerned at first at how Owen would react...he is quite the mommas boy you know, but he has adjusted so well. He went to daycare yesterday and when he got home the first person he looked for was "baby". Then he proceeds to get his little stool and set it right next to Axel in his bouncy seat and sits next to him looking with awe. They are gonna be best buds. Ella is doing well also, she is the little mother. Always wanting to hold and feed him, (if only she wanted to do diapers too)!!

All in all, Axel is a very good baby. He eats about every 3-4 hours, (it's been 4 at night), so that is great, and so far he only cries when he is hungry. He is starting to stay awake for longer periods of time, and of course loves to be cuddled. Or maybe that's me, I love cuddling with that little guy, he just curls up into a little ball in your arms and that is the best feeling ever!!