An update from the Shepard’s!

Hi. Hello. How are you?

Yep, I’m here!

As you can see from the above picture, I am doubly blessed!  With the two most precious, adorable little girls.  Oh they have my heart. 

Eleanor just turned 2.  And she had a Bubble Guppies party…what time is it…it’s time for lunch!  (all you moms out there can sing along)

Rosalie is 10 months!!!  Yes she is THAT close to 1.  I can’t…

Rosie’s birthday has snuck up on me, so I really need to get to party planning! 

And then there is my hubby Tim!  My bestest friend and the most incredible daddy ever! 

I really hope and would really like to start updating my blog again! We will see!!!!! 

This week we are really busy with a youth camp at our church, Tim working on school, Eleanor playing in the sprinkler, Rosie trying to pull up on every.single.thing., trying to keep up our healthy eating (we cut out soda for a bit!), (missing Dr. Pepper 10!), and trying to work on some house projects! 

Oh and can I just say…have you had a Sonic Nerd’s Slushie??????  Yes yes yes…this was before we started our sugar cleanse. ha!  But oh mylanta, they are amazing!  And you need one.  They taste like summer!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!!

xoxo,

Amanda

My latest blessing!

 Well today I thought it was about time I shared my latest blessing!  

We welcomed our sweet Rosalie Claire into the world on August 13th!  

 Rosalie is an absolute doll!  She has the sweetest little personality about her.  Eleanor has adjusted perfectly.  whoohoo!  I think she is too young to be jealous.  Which is perfect!  I am learning all sorts of things on how to parent a newborn and a 16 month old! haha!  Which is a completely different blog post! 

I had an emergency c-section with Eleanor, and was able to have a VBAC with Rosalie!  Praise God!  We had been praying so hard for a VBAC.  Rosie's birth story is very exciting and a true testament of God's timing and faithfulness.  

I plan to share it on the blog! (someday! lol!)  

I'm already so sad and sappy because Rosalie is already 1 month old!  And she seems so BIG!  It goes by sooooooo much faster the second time around.  sniff! 

Well, I just wanted to share my exciting news with everyone!  Someday I hope to be able to blog again on a regular basis. I enjoy it so much.  Until then, it was lovely to say Hello to everyone!  I hope you all are doing well.  Lots and lots of love from the Shepard clan!  Party of 4! :) xo

(I linked up with The Blessing Box today!)

Easter at the Shepard house & other news! :)

Hello everyone!  So, I haven't blogged in a reallllllly long time! I kept thinking about it.  It just never happened.  But I'm totally okay with that!  Because...I have been spending most of my days with my precious Eleanor!  Who is almost a 1 year old!  I seriously cannot believe that.  

:(  So sad, yet excited at the same time.  I'm so sorry to leave all of you hanging that don't know me personally.  I'm not promising that I will be blogging regularly, but I sure have missed it.  

I thought I would give a very brief catch up on my life!  

This is my sweet little Eleanor on Easter!  A little over 11 months old.  She looked absolutely beautiful on Easter.  I thought she looked like such a toddler.  :(  

And this is the family on Easter!  It ended up being a beautiful day!!!! 

I also have a little more news on the home-front.....

I AM PREGNANT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

SURPRISE!  :)  

Yep.....I am 20 weeks along with another baby girl!  This one was a HUGE surprise.  But we could not be more thrilled after the journey we went on the conceive Eleanor.  We thank God everyday for this incredible blessing.  Our girls will be super duper close in age....but they will also be best friends!  I can't wait.  Plus, we don't have to buy hardly anything!  Score!  It paid off when Tim wanted to buy everything pink for Eleanor! haha!  

I just had to share another pic of my loves!  Eleanor adores her daddy.  No one else can make her laugh like her daddy can.  I try....but nope, dad is way funnier!  

Here is Eleanor digging through her Easter basket from us!  Gosh, I had fun putting together her basket!  I am going to love doing that every year.  Her favorite thing was her baby smartphone.  Though she still prefers to play with ours.....

This weekend we are suppose to have BEAUTIFUL weather here!  I am soooooo pumped.  We hope to take E out to the park and possibly on a picnic.  

It was so nice to share a blog again!  I'm not sure who stuck around my old blog.....but hello if you did!  :)  I have still been reading all of my favorite blogs out there.  Please forgive me that I have not been active and saying hello.  E seriously keeps me busy and on my toes!  

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!!! 

xoxo

It’s Me!

It’s true I hardly get the chance to blog anymore! I would really like to blog regularly….but I honestly don’t have the time.  I know I could make time, but I always feel guilty knowing that there are a million other things that I should be doing.  Really my only opportunity to blog would be during Eleanor’s nap times, but honestly those fly by!  And I am normally doing something around the house.  Right now, E is in bed and Tim fell asleep early on the couch.  So hence the blog post! hahaha!  I did want to mention to all of my sweet blog friends that I have made over the years…..that I am still reading your blogs!  I read everyday!  I have Reader on my phone and I will read blogs while I am nursing sometimes or when E has fallen asleep on me.  My phone doesn’t allow me to leave comments though!  Does anyone know how to do that? 

Since I haven’t blogged in awhile, I wasn’t even sure what I should post!  You know it’s going to be about our little Eleanor!  :) 

You must see Eleanor in her Christmas dress!!!!!!!!  She looked like a little snowflake princess.  I found ways for her to wear that dress several times in December. 

She looks like she is posing after a tap dance or something! She is stinkin cute!!!!!

We took E to see Santa in her snowflake dress!  She wasn’t too sure about Santa!  ha!  She did okay for a few seconds….long enough to get a picture.  And then she was done!  I am curious what she will do next year! 

I captured an adorable face while E was in her Christmas jammies!  It is so hard to get a face picture now a days.  She is always rolling around or putting something in her mouth! haha!  When does the putting everything in your mouth phase end? 

And this face just looks mischievous!  Love it!

And just for kicks…..and so you know Maddie is still around……Maddie taking in the sights on our Christmas roadtrip to mamaw and papaw’s house! 

And lastly…..a look at our ugly sweaters this year!  It’s always a pleasure to go shopping for new ugly sweaters each year! 

We had an amazing Christmas with Eleanor!  I hope to recap that on the blog too.  We are truly blessed! 

A few things I am looking forward to in 2013:  Continuing to grow closer to the Lord, planning E’s first birthday (eeeekkkkkkk!),  More date nights with my hubby, Working on house projects, Doing better at meal planning…….and a lot more things….but that’s all I can think of at almost midnight! ha! 

I hope each of you had a very happy and blessed Christmas and New Year! 

Lots of Love,

Amanda

DATE NIGHT!

Guess what world?  Husband and I are going out on a HOT DATE TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yipppeeeeee!

It is shameful to tell you how many times we have gone anywhere alone in the past 7 months. 

Our first time going anywhere alone was about 3 weeks after E was born.  Guess where we went?  To the Health Department in our city to get our whooping cough shots together!  Romance at its best.  We stopped off for a sonic drink….so that made it a date. 

The second time we went somewhere alone was to a church banquet.  We went there alone….but there was a bunch of people there.  So…..

The third time was just a few weeks ago, when we went to see “It’s a Wonderful Life” at the theatre.  However, we went with another couple.  So…….

I told you.  Shameful. 

Even though we have hardly gone anywhere, we still have had time together at home after E goes to bed. 

BUT…..

I could not be more excited about this evening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just my sweetie and me.  Out on a date on a Christmasy night.  I will be soaking up every moment. 

We are making a resolution for the new year to be better about scheduling date nights and not allowing anything to come between our date schedule!!!! 

We have a huge problem about saying NO to stuff and people. 

A romantic post coming soon!  :) 

Wish I could wear crazy Christmas vests!

I am a crazy Christmas lady and I don’t care who knows it!!!!

I am the person that wears Christmas tree earrings and jingle bell bracelets.  I would wear more Christmas shirts,  but then I cross over into the realm of ugly sweater lady….and that’s just not good.  But when I’m 80, you know I’ll be wearing those Christmas vests with pride! ha! 

Even though Eleanor is too young to really do many Christmas festivities this year, I have still been wanting to start a bunch of new traditions with her. 

Here is my Christmas Festivities List this year:

Get a real Christmas tree-  check

Get new family stockings with our names- check (tim & I’s say mom & dad!!!! :) )

Go to the Springfield Christmas Parade

Put up outside lights- in progress

Take a family Christmas card picture- Check

Decorate E’s room- check

Decorate ornaments for the tree

Make sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve

Read the Christmas story in Luke as a family on Christmas Eve

Take E to see Santa at Bass Pro

Have a baking day

Drive around with cocoa as a family looking at lights in our city

Make a hand & foot print of E for a Christmas craft

Watch our favorite movies and have a yummy dinner as a family

Try a new cookie recipe

Deliver some surprise treats to a family in need

Drink sparkling grape juice by the light of the tree with husband

Get Eleanor the Fisher-Price nativity set

And that’s all I can think of right now! ha!  And obviously we won’t get to all those things this year.  But they are all things I would love to do.  I love starting new traditions! 

Do you have a special tradition with your family?  (that I can steal from you!)  :) 

Merry Christmas Friends!

Turkey Day Recap

There is nothing better than celebrating the holidays with our Eleanor! 

Last week we had the best time at E’s first Thanksgiving!!!! 

I am completely obsessed with holiday clothes for E….so I am super happy I was able to find her several Thanksgivingish clothes for the month! :) 

One of my favorites being her turkey butt jammies!

I got a little sad when I was shopping the other day because I realized that she is almost out of the sizes where they have animals or cute things on the butts of clothes!  Nooooooooo!  I love this so much.  I guess it would be wrong for an 8 year old to walking around with a turkey on her butt! ha!  I am enjoying my last little bit of  cute prints on E’s butt!

We all woke up on Thanksgiving morning to run the Turkey Trot in our city!  It was our first time….and we will definitely be making that a tradition.  There were so many people there.  It was nuts.  E seemed to really love it.  She kept trying to get out of her stroller to look at all the runners! 

I am just now getting back into exercise and I was totally feeling it after the race!  haha!  :/ 

The above pic is our family Thanksgiving pic.  E is wearing her turkey dress!  And yes she is sucking her thumb! :)  She has turned out to be a full blown thumb sucker.  We tried and tried to keep the paci, but she started refusing it.  We get LOTS of comments from people like….. “you better not let her do that….it will ruin her teeth!” We even get comments from strangers about it.  It is a tad frustrating.  (and annoying!)  I always keep my mouth shut.  But this is my personal blog, so I guess I can rant a little right?  What I want to tell those advice-givers….You try to stop a 7 month old from putting her thumb in her mouth!  :)  And rant over.  Plus, Eleanor is an extremely content and happy baby.  So thumb sucking isn’t all bad! 

Just another pic of E in a Thanksgiving shirt.  And our cute little Maddie! BFF!

That face makes me MELT!

My momma and I went out black friday shopping!  We had the best time as always…..but it was way more relaxed this year since I am still breastfeeding.  It wasn’t a marathon like it has been in years past. haha!  We can totally shop for a ridiculous amount of hours!  We made several pit stops so I could feed and cuddle with Eleanor. 

Just wanted to recap our Thanksgiving festivities!  And now the Christmas season is in full swing and I could not be more excited!!!!!! 

Did anyone go out shopping on Black Friday?  What did you shop for? 

Oh Christmas Tree!

This year Tim and I decided that we would go all out and get a REAL CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It was such a fun time!  I wasn’t sure how I would like it…..and how it would work out for us.  BUT…we have decided that we love it and it will be happening every year! :) 

We went out to the cutest tree farm!  On the way we stopped for a caramel mocha coffee.  Delightful!  We listened to Christmas music, Eleanor was talking away in the backseat, and we were talking about our first Christmas as a family of 4!  (we don’t forget little Maddie!) 

It was a perfect crisp morning for tree shopping! I loved all of the huge, fat trees.  Too bad we don’t have tall ceilings in our house. 

We chose a Nordman Fir tree!  It is beautiful!  I didn’t find this out until I googled it later….but Nordman’s are one of the best trees for families with children because they have great needle retention and they don’t have sharp needles! 

Here is my handsome hubby making a fresh cut on the bottom!

I was a little worried that we would have a Clark Griswald moment….but everything went well!  Merry Christmas to us! ha!

Ok….one little thing….when we set it up in the living room, it was much bigger than we thought and Tim had to do a little trimming so we could still have a star on top! :) 

I am in love with our tree and super happy that we went for the real deal!  I would definitely recommend it for a fun family outing!

We are in full Christmas mode now! I have been dressing E in all of her Christmas clothes, I got peppermint mocha creamer, Christmas candy on the coffee table and even a few gifts purchased.

Does anyone else get a real Christmas tree?

From Us to You!

The Shepard family wants to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Our hearts are so full this Thanksgiving season.  We truly have so much more than we need and deserve.  We get to spend this holiday with our sweet Eleanor that we have prayed for during many holidays past.  We finally have our precious miracle! 

Sometimes I get to longing and wishing for the next new thing, or new clothes or home décor.  But when I stop to think about it, I have so much!  I might not consider myself wealthy, but compared to many parts of the world we are very very rich. 

Most of all I am thankful for my relationship with Jesus Christ!  Without Him, I am and have nothing.  He makes me rich! 

I hope each of you have a wonderful day!  (and be friendly if you go out shopping!) 

With love,

Amanda

Eleanor & Sweet Potatoes

Eleanor has officially started food!!! :)

We waited until 6 months to give her the first taste of it.  No real reason….we just waited.  Her doctor said we were welcome to start earlier if we wanted as Eleanor seemed ready. 

Oh and we had a gift card left from one of her showers, and we were able to get this highchair!  It is the cutest thing! We decided to go with the kind that sits in your dining room chair.  We don’t have a huge house, so we didn’t really want a free standing one hanging around.  It has worked out great!  When we have people over and need the chair, we just take it off the chair and sit peanut in her excersaucer! 

This was E’s first bite of food!  We decided to skip rice cereal and go straight for the sweet potatoes! :) nom nom.  We toyed around with trying Baby Led Weaning and I just couldn’t get over the fear of choking.  (even though they say it hardly happens)  It just bothered me.  Though….she already has 3 teeth so I think we will start letting her explore soft finger foods in the near future! 

E’s first food experience was funny.  I think she enjoyed the taste of the sweet potatoes…..but she kept trying to grab the spoon and put it in her mouth herself!  Oh boy it was a challenge.  She wanted that spoon by golly!  haha!  (another reason I think we will start finger foods soon! ha! girlfriend wants to help!)  Since that feeding, she has gotten soooooo much better at allowing us to feed her!  And she has finally started figuring out how to eat rather than pushing the food out with her tongue. 

Here she is trying to help! Precious thing.

So what kind of food did we feed her?

I really wanted to make her food for several reasons.  (Though I’m not against jar food at all….she has already had some!)  I wanted to make her food because it is cheaper, I’m at home most of the time, and I can control what goes in it!  We started out with just a blender.  It did the job but it was not easy!  We really had to work on getting the sweet potato smooth.  One sweet potato made a ton of servings!!!!  We froze them in ice cube trays, then popped them out and put them in freezer bags.  Then we just thaw however many cubes she needs for that day!  It is awesome. 

My mom surprised us with the Baby Bullet this week!!!!! yay!!!! I can’t wait to try it out!  I know it is going to work much better than my blender. 

So far our little peanut has tried:  sweet potatoes, applesauce, pears, oatmeal and peas!  We have had success with all of them except the oatmeal.  But thanks to several of you ladies….you suggested mixing it with fruit and I know she will like that much better. 

I’m still doing a ton of research about baby food stuff.  It is kind of just figuring things out as you go right?  If anyone has a favorite website or book on this topic….I will love to know!!!! 

Well, that is the latest on Eleanor! 

Oh and I have a song on my heart….so I thought I would share.  No video of me singing it! haha!  Just the lyrics….

In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song.

This Cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought or storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease

My comforter, my all in all

Here in the love of Christ I STAND!

Hugs!

AMANDA

Eleanor’s first Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Shepard Fam!!!!! 

Little Eleanor was a punkin! :)

She got to go trick or treating for the first time at my mom’s work!  It was the cutest thing ever. 

I was so impressed by her treating abilities!  She knew how to reach in the bowl….she grabbed the candy….and then she dropped it in her bucket!  I know all mommas think this, but I was convinced she was genius! haha! 

I couldn’t find a black shirt for her to wear under her costume….so she ended up wearing a Christmas shirt! She was celebrating two holidays at once! 

And Eleanor’s mommy & daddy were hipsters for Halloween this year!!!! hahaha! 

Mr. Tim is wearing my scarf! :) 

We had a costume & chili party for the college students at church and it was so much fun!  I tried a chili recipe from allrecipes.com and I was so not impressed! I am so bad about trying new recipes for people, when I should always try new recipes at home first! haha!  Does anyone else do that? 

I was thinking….I will be sad for the first Halloween that Eleanor won’t let me pick out her costume for her.  I guess I will enjoy it while it lasts! 

On the same note, today I am packing away her itty bitty clothes and it is BREAKING MY HEART!!!!!  ahhhhh.  Goodness….her preemie clothes were so small.  How is it that I can hardly remember holding her when she was that small? 

Oh and guess what?  I just ordered her a precious Thanksgiving dress, jammies and shirt! I so love dressing her for holidays!

Happy Saturday friends!!!!!! 

xo,

Amanda