Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! This year was Lizzie's first Easter egg hunt! This was Josh's first Easter egg hunt as well, and these two were so cute to watch! We weren't sure if they would understand the idea behind an Easter egg hunt but they caught on really fast!

They each carried their baskets around and picked up as many eggs as they could see!

The most surprising part was that, afterwards, they sat down next to each other and enjoyed the goodies with very little conflict or "sharing" issues. Josh was content to dump all the eggs out of the baskets while Lizzie had fun putting them back in. And of course they both had fun stuffing their faces with candy and cereal.

Its so nice to not only have family nearby but good friends, too, to celebrate the holidays with!

17 Months Old. Sneak Peak Video

Lizzie is 17 months old, just one month short of the big 1 1/2 year old mark. She really seems to be growing up too fast. So fast that sometimes this pregnancy seems to just blur in with the pregnancy when I was carrying Lizzie. But no... Lizzie was born over a year ago; she walks; she talks; and she will soon have a baby sister.

I always thought it odd when parents would refer to their toddlers as being "17 months" or "18 months", etc. Why not just say 1 1/2 yrs old? Don't we refer to people's ages by the years? Can't we just do a little rounding instead of specifying the exact number of months a child has been alive? Now that I have a 17 month old, myself, I know exactly why we specify age in months at this point. This girl has changed SOOO much in the past month, its amazing. She has probably grown more, learned more, and changed more than I have in the past 5 yrs of my life.

This past month she has entered the "terrible twos" phase early it seems. She has been asserting her free will and independence at every turn. Tantrums and sour faces are a part of our daily life at this point. It can be frustrating in the moment, but at the end of the day I smile and appreciate the sheer will of such a young girl who is just trying to gain a little control over her daily activities. Apparently, its very frustrating to have so many wants, desires, and needs while having such a limited ability to communicate and control one's environment. I do give the girl credit because she has strong opinions, determination, and a long memory. There is no such thing as "distracting" tactics anymore.

Don't get me wrong though, she is still the sweet, happy girl who loves giving mom and dad hugs and kisses. She'll do anything to get us to laugh at her. She is just in a phase where her spunky side flares up a bit more often. Perhaps that is why her favorite phrases to say lately are "Boo-ya!", "Silly momma!", and "Silly Daddy!"

Warning: Beware of parent bragging about child beyond this point. Stop reading now unless you are a grandparent or a future/older Lizzie wanting to read lots of praise about milestones reached!

Lizzie- I've found that you learn in spurts. You'll go a month without too much change then, WHAM! You'll learn a million new things in a week. This month has been one of those spurts. I have also learned to take advantage of these "spurting" times because a couple weeks later you're interests have changed. Your latest interest is in letters, numbers, colors, and words. I introduced you to the ABC's by showing you the website starfall.com and a month later you now know all your letters and some phonics. You then learned numbers 1-10, basic colors, and you try to repeat every new word you hear.
Its so fun to watch you learn. I love teaching you. You're very quick for such a little girl. You're very cute. You're very funny. You're very clever. And very sweet. But this is not why we love you. We love you because you are YOU! No matter what you do- we are always so proud!

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We have looked forward to Lizzie being able to communicate her thoughts for so long we have recorded some of her favorite words and phrases over the past couple months. A little sneak peak into the mind of a 1 yr old:

Portland With Friends

This past weekend we headed to Vancouver, WA to visit Steve and Krista's new home, and to meet up with Briel and Kathryn. This was our first time getting together since everyone has moved and resettled away from Seattle, after dental school. We decided to make this year's annual vacation a very casual one considering 2 families just bought houses, 2 of us are pregnant, and Krista just had a baby less than 2 months ago! It was great to just have the chance to hang out again and catch up since graduation!


One of the days we spent in downtown Portland, shopping and exploring. Walking around Portland brought back some good memories which is unusual considering this was my first visit! It was so similar to Seattle! Every aspect of it, really, including the statues of pigs on the sidewalk!

Vancouver was a beautiful area as well. We were able to go on a mini hike and enjoy the beautiful outdoors! The kids especially loved it!

(That includes Dave of course..hehe)
We really had a great time and are already looking forward to our next reunion!

Pink bows, green bows...bows, bows, bows

With one girl, another on the way, and multiple little girl nieces, I feel very justified in investing my time and money into everything that's sugar and spice. We're talking pink baby items, cute matching dresses, and lots of bows, ribbons, and headbands.

I have especially been into making little girl bows. (alligator clip style)

Stop and Smell the Roses

Little children are full of life lessons. Lizzie and I were on our way home from the park, hurrying along, when she insisted that we stop at a large bush and literally stop and smell the big red roses. Its important to take a moment every now and then to recognize the beauty and bounty of life.

Lucky for her, there was a big red blossom on the ground that she was all too happy to snatch up and take home for a souvenir.

16 Months Old Update

Lizzie just turned 16 months old and Jamie was kind enough to take some amazing portraits once again! I especially love the first pic not only because its really cute but also because it show cases how well her her beautiful little hands have healed.


Lately, Lizzie and I are enjoying every moment together because in the near future we won't get to spend so much one on one time. It will be interesting to see how she reacts to her up and coming sister, Julie! So far Liz is loving the new house, backyard, and nearby parks, etc. She is also loving being near her Grammy and Papa- every time we get in the car she says "Papa!" (Hoping we are going to visit)

I have to say I have really been enjoying Lizzie's ever growing ability to communicate. She seems to learn 1-2 new words a day and it has really lowered her frustration levels. She can voice her wants and concerns such as "I want Daddy!" or an "I want that!" while pointing at whatever her heart desires. Some of her fav things to say right now are: "I want that", "No, no Mama!", "Lenny!", "Papa", "Bye", "Hi", "Shoes", "Cheese", and "Fish!" (usually referring to crackers). And of course she still loves her three fav words of all time, "Mama", "Daddy", and "MORE!"

These days you will rarely catch Lizzie sitting or even walking. She's generally running at high speed. Occasionally, she levels off at a good speed walking rate, but her arms are always pumping wildly and her hips swinging in that funny way toddlers have of moving from one place to another.

She has four teeth now- 2 on top and 2 on bottom. Man, they were slow to arrive (she is now caught up to the average tooth eruption level of a 8 month old), but thats just the dental hygienist in me obsessing over teeth.

Some of Lizzie's favorite activities: doing anything outside, reading, puzzles, getting chased and tickled or chasing after her parents and tickling them, singing songs with hand actions, playing with her cousins, watching "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", and watching/playing the alphabet game on the computer.
One of the funniest things she does right now is sometimes when we sing a song with hand actions such as, "When You're Happy and You Know it", or "The Wheels on the Bus", she will grab her baby doll or Lenny the Lion and make THEM do the hand motions of clapping or spinning arms...cracks me up every time.

The Marstons

It was so great to see the Marstons who were just here visiting for 2 weeks! The best part was getting to meet little baby Grant! Its so fun to see Steph interact with her three kids- she's such a good mom. I'm amazed at how well she is doing with handling a newborn while taking care of the other two as well.

We were really lucky that Blake was able to fly out for a couple days- we usually see less of him due to his work schedule.

One big event that we were so happy to be a part of was Grant's baby blessing. It was really sweet to see how his older siblings loved him so much and were always wanting to hold and kiss him.

It was so fun to have all the cousins get together and do fun activities like roller skating. They allow strollers on the rink so we got to include everybody!
These three stroller kids were so funny! Lizzie and Katie especially would scream every time they passed each other.
Both Dane and Mike just had birthdays so we had a joint celebration for these two guys!
I'm not sure if the sponge bob cupcakes were for Dane or Mike's benefit, but they both seemed to enjoy them :)
Whenever all the Stevens girls get together its so fun because I actually have sisters now! I never had that experience growing up so its great to get so many sisters now! Especially with two of them being great photographers! I can enjoy the moments and then get great photos from them afterwards!