Practice...

Aunt Sarah and Baby Logan came by this morning to visit for a bit while the big boys were at school.  Silas was in rare form showing off for her.  I think he was just thrilled to have someone at HIS house and to have her practically all to himself was just sooooo exciting! :-) He got to hold and love on Logan for a bit and did a great job being gentle.  It was good practice.  We can't wait to have Baby Sister here!

Precious boys!  I just want to squeeze them both!

Embrace the Camera 12/1

Friday was Deck the Halls day at the Moon house.  We bought our first real tree (boy those things really are full of sap!) and then spent the next 3-4 hours getting it straight in the stand and decorating it.  Silas was no help at all unless you consider laying under the tree and looking cute helpful. He finally decided right before bedtime that hanging ornaments was actually fun and then got to stay up late so he could help.

Enjoy some pics of the boy and Daddy. :)

"Helping" Daddy put up the tree

Mommy's taking our picture!!

HIDE!!

Ok, just smile for her. :) 

Don't forget to Embrace the Camera and get IN some pictures with your kids!

More Silas-isms :)

*Silas has a flashcard app on mine and Justin's phones that he has been playing with since March.  He now knows how to unlock my phone and go to the app (or any other app he wants for that matter) all by himself. The flashcards are divided into categories, and one of them is Mommy's Things and one of the cards is "lipstick." For months every time he got to the lipstick card he would say "Mommy stick."  Tonight for the first time he said "lipstick" instead. :(

*I think I have written about his before, but every night when Silas goes up to bed, he stops at the top of the stair railing (before it turns into a wall) and asks me to come "tiss" him.  It is my favorite part of the whole day.  Lately he has been asking for Mommy and Daddy to kiss through the railing too and then after we do he squeezes in between us for a "Silas Sandwich" where we kiss his cheeks and say MMMMMMMMMWWWWWAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH really loudly.  If we don't say it loud enough he makes us do it again. :)  Oh - and the other night his Aunt Holly came to visit and after he kissed Mommy and Mommy kissed Daddy, Silas wanted to kiss Holly and then he said, "OTay - Daddy tiss Wallee" (Justin's sister).  It was hilarious and Justin told him that Daddy only kisses Mommy. ;)

These pictures have nothing to do with any of the above cuteness, but they're pretty cute in and of themselves. They are also in no particular order.

Halloween with Daddy - learning to punch

We made salt dough hand a footprints the other day and he had a blast playing with the leftover dough. (We'll be making those again with regular white all purpose flour.  All I had on hand was Whole Grain flour and it had a little too much texture.)

 My back was acting up all of Halloween weekend so I missed out on some fun festivities, but I got to squeeze in some love from the boy before they headed out to join in the fun.

One day he found a ponytail holder and asked me to put it in his hair.  I fixed it like this and put his cape on him and told him he was Super Silas.  He spent the rest of the day throwing himself off of the couch. His hair has since been cut. 

Wearing Mommy's boots. :)

Oh my goodness.  I walked into the living room and found him sitting like this.  What you can't see in this particular picture is that his Daddy is sitting just like him and they are both eating popsicles.  Boys will be boys. And yes, he is wearing underwear over his diaper.

Silas (2+)

Little Man has done and said some pretty cute/funny things lately and I want to write them down so we don't forget them.:)

*Yesterday when he got up from his nap he went straight to the window in the living room and looked outside saying, "Hurry Daddy hurry! Tum pay Yiyas! (Come play with Silas!)." It was the cutest.

*About a week ago Justin and I were getting ready to go somewhere when he walked in the bathroom with a big iron skillet and said "EN GUARDE!!" If you have seen the movie Tangled, you know why that is funny. They fight with skillets. He then brought us each our own and we had a sword fight with pots and pans.

*He LOVES to play Hide and Seek - especially with his Daddy and especially outside. He hides in the same place every time and then when it is his turn to "seek" he goes to all of the same places holding his big stick like a sword and then says, "nooooooOOOOO" (in his sweet high pitched voice) if we aren't there.

*His favorite words right now are "mine!" and "I do it Mommy!" with "NO!" being a close third. This was cute for about 5 minutes - not so much anymore and he is becoming very familiar with his time-out corner.

*He also says, "Sorry Mommy" of his own accord sometimes and I will hear him saying sorry to his toys and random objects if he steps on them or does something he thinks was wrong (sorry Woody, sorry Buzz, sorry hairbrush...). This makes up for screaming NO at me a hundred times a day.:)

*Today I took a shower while he was awake (a very risky move that had to happen because I have sewing to do during naptime today) and was praying the entire time that he would just watch his movie and not destroy anything or himself. About the time I got the shampoo in my hair I heard a loud bump so I called for him to come where I could see him. He came and I opened the door and asked what he was doing. He said, " I get green chocolate, Mommy" and held up a jar of Hershey's kisses someone gave us at Christmas last year that has been in the top cabinet since then. I told him to sit on the rug outside the shower and I would give him one when I got out. When I was done I went to check the damage and thankfully nothing was destroyed but it was apparent that he had spent some time rearranging the contents of the top cabinet before he found the contraband chocolate. He pushed his little chair up, climbed up on the counter and then stood and dug through everything. I know this because I made him show me how he got it. Thank goodness he didn't fall off or hurt himself getting down - we aren't ready for another trip to the ER.;)

*He also very much enjoys singing the blessings at meal times. Here's the proof:

We can thank Micah May for his volume. ;)

I love this kid!

(Sorry the video is grainy - it isn't until I upload it here and I have yet to master the art of blogger and videos.)

Boy or Girl??

Last week we had a special ultrasound and found out that Baby Moon is a GIRL!

I thought she was a girl from the very beginning.:)

We had our best friends over to take pictures of the "reveal" and share the special moment and then we let all of our family and friends know by posting on facebook. Easiest mass-announcement ever.:)

To answer all of the questions:

(when I am out and about I think I am just going to start bringing a tape recorder with me so I can press play and have it answer everything for me. People need some new small talk material!)

*Yes, we are excited.

*No, we aren't any more excited than we would have been if it was a boy.

(It is amazing to me how family, friends, and total strangers will express their deep desire for you to have a certain sex...especially if you already have one child.)

*Yes, we have a name but we are still deciding how to spell it. Once we make the final decision we will share.:) It's the same one we have always liked.

*I don't feel like this pregnancy is crazy-different than my first. I am not carrying any higher or lower despite what random people that I have never met try to convince me of in the grocery store. :) A few things are different, but not enough to write home about.

*I'm almost 20 weeks, which is half-way.:)

*For the most part, I feel fine. I do have sciatica issues, but it is generally manageable. I didn't (and don't) have morning sickness. Sometimes I am tired in the afternoons (but who isn't??). ;) When people ask me how I feel I usually just say "fine" or "great" because I don't feel like hearing every home remedy or piece of advice they feel the need to share. What is it with people feeling like they must share their advice with pregnant women? STOP DOING THAT! Unless we ask, we aren't interested in how you or your Aunt Gertrude did it.

*I don't have any weird cravings. I do crave things, but it's never anything that I don't normally enjoy. But when I do crave something, I want it RIGHT.NOW. :)

I guess that covers every pregnant woman's most FAQs.

I'm joining Emily for Embrace the Camera this week. Hope over and say hello and see if you want to join in the fun!

16 weeks

Baby Moon is growing every day and in my opinion the above picture does not do my sizeable belly justice. :)

It's very active all the time but we can't yet feel it from the outside (though I expect that to happen any day now).

I had an appointment today and everything sounded great with the heartbeat - in the 150s.

My back and hips are killing me on a daily basis and have been since about week 7 or 8. I expected this since it happened really early with Silas too.

I am also feeling Braxton Hicks contractions which again came as no surprise since they started getting where I could feel them about this time with Silas.

We have decided to find out the gender this time. Part of me thinks I will regret it because it feels like opening a Christmas present early (boo!) and we LOVED not knowing what Silas was, but the other part of me wants to experience the 2nd half of my pregnancy knowing the gender just to have experienced it both ways. So we are going to find out this time.

I'll have that ultrasound in a couple of weeks.

In my head I want to have a little party with all of our friends to make the announcement, but then again I don't always handle situations where all of the attention is on me/us well so we might decide to just do something fun with a mass announcement. I guess we'll see what kind of mood I am in when it gets closer.:)

We have a girl's name (some people know what it is but we'll not be sharing on the interwebs any time soon) because it's the same one we wanted if Silas had been a girl, but we do not have a boy's name and haven't really even talked about it. If you have any cool boys names that you want to share please do so in a comment (maybe not so much you MAMAY :P) - but don't get your feelings hurt if we don't choose it.

There are lots of other things that I want to share about pregnancy and postpartum and stuff that I just want to remember, but I've not yet decided the best way to go about doing that in such a public forum (but lets me honest - it's not the strangers reading this that I worry about - it's the people that I KNOW read it) so be patient with me as I try to figure it out. I want to be honest and open on here and I want to preserve memories for my family (this blog is the only way I am remembering what happened and when it happened during my pregnancy with Silas - thank goodness I wrote it down here!) but I struggle sometimes with what is too honest and what isn't. I guess in the end nothing is really too honest, but I want to be tasteful in my honesty. Does that even make sense? I am probably waaaaaaaay over-thinking this.

Also - that picture was taken with the self-timer this weekend while I was waiting for Justin to get dressed for our date. :)

Sunday Song

Psalm 130 (From Depths of Woe)

1. From the depths of woe I raise to Thee
The voice of lamentation;
Lord, turn a gracious ear to me
And hear my supplication;
If Thou iniquities dost mark,
Our secret sins and misdeeds dark,

O who shall stand before Thee?
(Who shall stand before Thee?)
O who shall stand before Thee?
(Who shall stand before Thee?)

2. To wash away the crimson stain,
Grace, grace alone availeth;
Our works, alas! Are all in vain;
In much the best life faileth;
No man can glory in Thy sight,
All must alike confess Thy might,

And live alone by mercy
(Live alone by mercy)
And live alone by mercy
(Live alone by mercy)

3. Therefore my trust is in the Lord,
And not in mine own merit;
On Him my soul shall rest, His word
Upholds my fainting spirit;
His promised mercy is my fort,
My comfort and my sweet support;

I wait for it with patience
(Wait for it with patience)
I wait for it with patience
(Wait for it with patience)

4. What though I wait the live-long night,
And ’til the dawn appeareth,
My heart still trusteth in His might;
It doubteth not nor feareth;
Do thus, O ye of Israel’s seed,
Ye of the Spirit born indeed;

And wait ’til God appeareth
(Wait ’til God appeareth)
And wait ’til God appeareth
(Wait ’til God appeareth)

5. Though great our sins and sore our woes
His grace much more aboundeth;
His helping love no limit knows,
Our upmost need it soundeth.
Our Shepherd good and true is He,
Who will at last His Israel free

From all their sin and sorrow
(All their sin and sorrow)
From all their sin and sorrow
(All their sin and sorrow)

©1997 Christopher Miner Music.

Famine in East Africa

Warning: This post has not been well thought out nor will it be a happy one. Continue at your own risk.

In case you don't keep up with the world news but do read this pitiful excuse for a blog, there is a famine/drought going on in the Horn of Africa that is the worst they have seen in YEARS. An estimated 29,000 children under the age of 5 have died from starvation in SOMALIA ALONE over the past 90 days. The drought is affecting the countries of Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti and 12.4 million people.

Many people are making the long journey to Kenya where there are refugee camps that are bursting at the seams with people.

via

I read THIS article the other day and the words are forever burned into my mind. I am torn up by it. I cannot imagine being faced with the decisions so many people are having to make and yet it is a daily part of their life. Please go read that article. Please.

This is one of those moments where you can make a decision to ACT and give or just sit around and let someone else do what you are meant to be doing.

I can spout scripture but really? You already know what the Bible says and how the Lord feels about the least of these. It's not a suggestion, it is a COMMAND. It's not up to governments to fix these problems. It's up to us. The body. You and me. Together.

What are you going to do about it?

Obviously the biggest need is for financial support for aid on the ground in Africa. If you can make any donation at all, here are a couple of ministries that are happy to take that money off of your hands and save some lives with it:

Samaritan's Purse - give to "Kenya Emergency Food" to help with the refugee camps/food distribution points

World Vision - give here for relief efforts across the entire Horn of Africa

Embrace the Camera 8/4

A Story in Pictures

1. Uh oh. Cute picture but zoomed in a little too much. Try again.

2. Hang in there buddy! Just smile one more time!

3. Please?? BOYS! Smile!!

4. Ugh. Fine.

Get your Embrace on!

our little miracle

miracle: an extraordinary event manifesting divine intervention in human affairs

I tend to be leery of using the word "miracle" because sometimes I think that it is over- and mis-used. I am using it here because I truly believe that the Lord intervened in this part of our story.

Even though I do believe it, as I type this I find myself getting panicky and wanting to change the subject because what if I sound crazy???

But really, I just want to glorify Him in all things and if that takes me sounding a little crazy then bring it on. ;)

I want to tell of the good things He has done.

So.

YAY FOR BABIES!!

Yep, I'm growing another one (yes, just one) and come March Silas will be a big brother.

:)

I found out I was pregnant while we were at the beach. Best.vacation.ever. :)

I saw the doctor when we got home and everything seemed fine, though not much was done except a physical exam and pee stick test.

We scheduled an ultrasound for the next week which should have put me at 6 weeks.

You can't really see much because I had to take a picture of it with my camera, but all that is there is a gestational sac. No yolk sac, and no baby. It's the little black oval to the left center. The ultrasound tech at my doctor is great (and a Christian) and she remained very calm and said that I was measuring 4 weeks instead of 6. I immediately started panicking inside because I KNEW that I couldn't only be 4 weeks - that would mean that on the day I got a positive pregnancy test that I really would have been getting pregnant. Make sense? I just knew that it wasn't right and was terrified that I was going to miscarry.

We talked to a midwife (the same one who delivered Silas) and though she didn't say that we should be worried, she also wasn't super encouraging either and just said that we should come back in 2 weeks for another ultrasound if nothing happened before then.

I left bawling. Thankfully Justin was able to be with me and he (as always) was very supportive.

We decided to only tell the Mays and Cardozas so that they could pray with us.

It was a very hard couple of days as I fought to be hopeful and not worry about something that I couldn't control.

2 weeks was going to seem like forever.

The ultrasound was on a Tuesday and by Thursday the Lord had calmed me enough to think a little more clearly.

I had told Justin (and a handful of other people) from the beginning that I felt like the Lord's hand was on this pregnancy. I'm probably about to sound crazy, but I just really didn't think that I should have gotten pregnant for several reasons - most having to do with timing and busy-ness. I took a trip to Nashville to visit some friends shortly after I got pregnant but well before I could actually know I was, and one of those precious friends knew that we were trying to get pregnant and before I left we stood in his driveway and he put his hand on my tummy and prayed over my womb.

He prayed over my womb.

It was one of the sweetest things I have ever experienced. When Jeff prays, he EXPECTS things to happen. And he said that he knew I was pregnant and would be calling him in a few weeks to tell him the good news. From that point on I started to think that I really WAS pregnant - even though I knew logistically that the chances were pretty slim.

Sure enough, 2 weeks later I got a little pink plus sign. :)

So.

After a couple of days of really being afraid and jumping at every little ligament stretch and new feeling, I decided that being scared and worrying wasn't doing me a bit of good and that I was just going to pray. REALLY PRAY. I had been praying, of course, but I was going to stop praying with fear and just straight up pray with expectation. I decided that I was going to completely trust God to fix this and to make it right and believe wholeheartedly not just that he could but that he WOULD. It is hard for me to pray like that because then what do I do if He disappoints me? I feel like I need to make excuses for Him when things don't turn out the way that I (or a someone else) wants them too. Anyway - so that's what I did. When I started to doubt I prayed for grace to believe.

And His peace that passes all understanding was abundant.

And the 2 weeks really didn't seem to pass that slowly.:)

{side note: prayer is something that i have always struggled with. i know what the bible says about it - that the Lord hears the prayers of a righteous man and that He is faithful. i just sometimes can't make it all make sense in my head. how does prayer really work? and if he already has his plan and is working it out, why do we need to pray? this is something i am constantly working on and i just wanted to make that clear so no one gets any impression of me other than a fallen sinner saved by grace alone that sooooooo doesn't get it most of the time.}

We went back to doctor yesterday for another ultrasound and this is the picture:

Even with a completely untrained eye you can see that the gestational sac is quadruple the size that it was and there is a little baby in there (though it looks more like a bean).

Not only can we see the baby, but we saw and heard a tiny little heart beating at 164 beats per minute.

Glory to God!

This was HIS doing.

I believe it with everything in me.

I am now measuring at 7 weeks (from 4 to 7 weeks in just 2 actual weeks???) but I am convinced that I am actually at 8 weeks like we thought from the beginning. Either way, there's a baby in there!

As I was praying in the 2 week waiting time, I said that I couldn't wait to tell the story of how He has his hand on my womb and this baby.

Thank you Lord for answering prayers and teaching me lessons. I don't know why you chose to answer in this way, but I am forever grateful.

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:13-16

The latest Moonpie Designs

I just realized that it has been a realllllly long time since I put any of the latest MpD creations up for y'all to see.

My bad.

It's not because I haven't been busy - it's actually been pretty steady since about November (which is GREAT!).

I just crank out the orders and forget to take pictures.

Really. I am TERRIBLE!

I've done several block orders lately and haven't taken a picture of a single one of them. :(

But I did finish a few orders this week and I remembered!

{insert applause}

This is a new item - sunglasses cases. :) A friend needed some for her bridesmaids and asked if I could do it. I could. ;) AND she wanted yellow and grey which just happen to be my faves right now. What do you think? They are double lined with fleece for extra protection. $15 with an initial.

More mini-wallets. :) My sweet DD (grandmother) loves to show off her mini (which is a couple of years old now) and last week she got me three orders while she was at the eye doctor. Now THAT'S a good grandma! ;) She also ordered a new one for herself. They are $10 with an initial, symbol, or ruffle.

That's all folks!

I don't keep stuff stocked in my etsy shop because it just wasn't proving to be worth the time and effort. Word of mouth seems to work best for me and facebook has proved to be extremely helpful in spreading the word. My clients (that just sounds weird) post pictures (that I can't seem to figure out how to put on here since FB changed their picture viewer) and then their

friends see it and friend me and so on and so forth. It's all workin' out!

I'm rambling.

All of that to say that if you are interested in any Moonpie Designs products or want to know if I can make something for you, just shoot me an email or friend me on FB and let's talk. :) I'm Stephanie Dowden Moon - moonpie(dot)designs@yahoo(dot)com.

************************************************************************

OK, so about 1.5 seconds after I originally published this post my friend Zach taught me how to save pictures from FB. So now I can share some blocks!

I did these for a friend from highschool and she posted them on FB and I got two orders from her friends in a week (one is for 4 sets!!). Thanks Hillary for being a fan and sharing with your friends!

Embrace the Camera 6/23 (playing catch-up)

We're Embracing the Camera again with Emily!

I grabbed the camera a lot over the past couple of weeks and now I have a crazy amount of pictures of me and Silas with our faces smashed together. :)

Using Momma as a jungle gym - his new favorite activity

Squeeze!

A couple of weeks ago we went to the zoo for a members only night. The Mays came with us and we were both able to get a good family picture. :) Silas decided to show his fat face. ;)

Squeeeeeeze again and throw in a pickle for good measure. ;)

I won't tell you how many times it took to actually capture a kiss. My camera is not the easiest to hold up with one hand and with Silas' attention span being that of an ant, we got lots of outtakes from this one. :)

Go EMBRACE!

Swim Lessons & One Thousand Gifts

We spent the entire last week in the pool. Silas had swim lessons in the mornings and then a couple afternoons we went to a friends pool. It was a blast! I so enjoyed watching him LEARN and then get more and more brave. Now he will get things off of the bottom of the pool and he can kick and swim to the side and hold on to the wall. He is also getting better at floating on his back. It's so fun to just watch him play. His imagination is taking off and he has little conversations with his toys. I love to watch him figure things out - he just works and works at it until he gets it. :)

Swimming to Miss Jocelyn - one of his coaches

jumping off the diving board - which he wasn't thrilled about but didn't cry and actually did really well. :)

bracing for impact ;)

swimming to the side after jumping in

choo-chooing on the wall - one of the things they teach the kids is how to swim to the wall and hold on to the side and "choo-choo" to a ladder or steps so they can get out if they ever fall in the pool alone. They also work hard at teaching them how to float on their backs.

Continuing my list:

122. fresh veggies on the stove

123. new friends over for dinner

124. decadent chocolate cake with poured chocolate icing

125. how I can SEE the temperature difference when I pour hot, freshly made, sweet tea over ice - I can get lost in the swirls

126. new swimsuits

127. the smell of a freshly mown lawn

128. my Champion God

129. our home

130. that just a hint of sunlight turns Silas' skin tan - and his little white booty :)

131. treasure hunting with my bestie

132. watching Silas discover new things

133. Little Man's developing imagination

134. a God who can be trusted to be as good as He says He is

135. words of encouragement

136. how dreams refuse to die

137. new pictures of my sweet Sarah and Nusula

138. that I am not in control

Canaans pictures

These pictures go with a previous post. Scroll down or click here to read it.

With Nusula outside her school - Canaan CTC Primary School

With Sarah before the performance

Sarah singing :)

Marvin dancing and singing. Such a cutie patootie!

Washing feet and giving out new shoes

Sweet Surika

Sarah with her new stuffed animal tiger.:)

The Baby Dorm with their animals

Surika - is that not the best smile??!

The big kids with their markers and deodorant :)

Sarah and her mirror. This girl is cRaZy! Love her!

The teenage girls with all of their goodies. :)

Saying goodbye. Our last picture. :(