Flight Suits and Fairytales

It's Official....I'm on ETSY!!!!

Whew! After months of sewing, tying, cutting, knotting, glueing, crafting, learning, & planning, I have finally opened my shop on Etsy!! In the next few weeks I hope to add lots of cute new stuff, but for now I'm super happy with what I have :) Please feel free to browse my store, and be sure to send your friends my way!

Thanks so much for all of the prayers, and the wonderful encouragement. I really appreciate everyone's support!

Introducing......Elli Grace Designs!!!!

(Pretty clever name, huh?!)

Show Us Your Life....Children's Names

I haven't done a "Show Us Your Life" in awhile, and I thought this was a great topic to jump back in on! I'm sure I've told most of you this story (I might have even blogged about it!), but I LOVE the way that I found/chose Elliana's name. So, if you've heard this one before...well, you might want to skip on down to the Boy Name part :)

Let me set the stage: I was totally depressed, and drowning my sorrows in a caramel frappacino @ Barnes & Noble. Chris and I were having issues getting pregnant, I was very unhappy with my OB, and it seemed that every single friend I had was already a mommy, or was expecting their first baby. I was in a sad place; a place that too many women seem to find themselves in! I don't know why I thought that surrounding myself with Baby Name books was going to make me feel better, but there I was...completely up to my eyeballs in just that. A few days earlier, a dear fried of mine had prayed with me about letting go of my NEED to get pregnant, and for the strength to trust God's plan. I was desperately clinging to her words, but still hoping that God's will, and my hearts desire, would someday be one and the same. So there I was, flipping through books and searching for that perfect name. The first book that I picked up just randomly opened to the "E's". And there it was, at the top of the page, the very first name that I saw...

ELLIANA : God Has Answered, or God's Answer

And I just knew. It was as easy as that. If we had a girl, her name would be Elliana. A few people weren't too thrilled with it at first, and some (Chris) thought it sounded too Italian/Spanish & fancy for a daughter of a Chris & an Amy. But in my heart, I knew it was perfect for our future daughter. And about a year later, our very own Elliana Grace was born!!

If we have another little girl, I really like the names: Kate, Caitlyn, Avery, or Claire, and I her middle name will be the same as mine...Danielle.

As far as boy names, Chris is as 4th generation "James" (James Christian), so if we ever have a little boy I think James will definitely make an appearance in his name somewhere, we just haven't decided on whether it will be the first or the middle. I LOVE the name Caden (Cade for short), and Jackson.

What do y'all think? Any unique favorites out there? A good friend of mine named her sweet little girl, Emmeline (Emme) Hart and I just LOVE how unique and pretty that is.

Wordless Wednesday

Thank Goodness for Saturdays

Chris's schedule has officially gone back to being really, really crappy. He started his 12 hr days again 2 weeks ago, and I gotta say, I really didn't miss those guys! I guess if it was JUST the 12 hr days it wouldn't be so bad...but the studying for at least 3 hrs when he gets home afterwards makes it even worse. I always try to look at the bright side of things (emphasis on TRY), and I hate to be a downer about stuff, but sometimes it's just hard to find the good amidst the, uhhh, not so good. It makes me sad that he only gets to see Elli for 30-45 min a day, and that our time together consists of speeding through dinner & going to bed at 9. Yuck! Not fun! I thought, after the craziness of England, that there was NO WAY that his schedule could get worse, or that we'd spend LESS time together. Umm, I'm beginning to think that I was wrong.

But I still vividly remember how much I missed him when he was deployed, and I'm so thankful that we're not having to deal w/ that at all during Elli's first year. And I know how important it is for him to do well in this Phase of pilot training, and doing well takes hard work. I fully understand that. And I'm grateful for the spouse's that I've met here in Columbus...they are some of the most selfless women I've ever known. So, though it's tough sometimes (okay, a LOT of the time!), I'm trying to focus on the positive.

Saturdays are our respite, our family day, our "us" time. And I LOVE them, I treasure them, and I long for them by the time Friday rolls around. The rest of the week can be a crazy, hectic mess, but give this girl a Saturday and she'll be happy! Oh how I wish there was more than just one per week!

Too Early??

Is it too early to start thinking about 1st birthday party themes?? I asked Chris which one he liked better: Ladybugs or Cupcakes. His response: Can I choose neither?

I'm still really liking ladybugs! What do y'all think? Any ideas?

SLI ~ Week 6 (Chapters 11-12)

Here are the questions for this week:

This should get interesting :)

1. Based on Chapter 10, in all truthfulness, has your historical tendency been to view men (generally speaking) as gods? Or devils?

2. Based on Chapter 10 and your own day-to-day observances, what differences do you see between men’s insecurities and women’s?

3. On p.208 in Chapter 11, I suggest that women who struggle with insecurity tend to be particularly taken with 2 divine attributes: omnipotence and omniscience. Did either of these resonate with you? If so, how?

Happy 8 Month Birthday, Elliana!!

8 months already! Just 4 more, and she'll be 1...can it be?! The older she gets, the more fun she is, and the more I love her. Every day brings something new, and I absolutely treasure every moment. I know everyone says this, but I really can't image my life without her in it. Thank you, Lord, for this sweet sweet girl...she is such a blessing.

Our little miss is growing every day!! She's pretty much exclusively in 9 month clothes, and still wears a size 3 diaper. I found some super cute shoes the other day at Target that were size 2, and they were too big...so I guess we'll stick w/ just socks for a little while longer. We're still working on the 2 nap thing, I'm not sure we'll get there any time soon! Like I've said before, our girl likes her sleep! She can stand while holding on to something, and really prefers to be on her feet. I'm thinking we might have a walker before we have a crawler b/c she's just not interested in crawling AT ALL!! She can turn, roll, pivot & push, but there is no forward or backward movement going on. I don't know whether to be happy or concerned about that :) Ha! She reaches for things, can almost point, feeds herself her bottle, is getting the hang of a sippy cup, and likes to explore everything around her. She's got the hand wave down for "bye bye", she just doesn't raise her arm to do it. It's quite funny to see, actually! Her daddy can still get the most giggles from her, and she does her happy dance every time he comes in the door from work...super cute! She's "talking" more and more, but we've yet to get a mama or dada out of her (not for lack of trying!). She LOVES Elmo & Bert, all the songs on the Raffi CD, bedtime stories with Daddy, and eating (we know who she's related to!!). I'm happy to announce that she's even started to like peas :) We've now incorporated the Stage 2 baby food into her meals, and she's doing really well with it. I even bought some rice puffs the other day, but I'm a little hesitant to give them to her...it means she's growing up!! All in all, I think she's right on track, I just wish time wasn't speeding by quite so quickly!

Wanna see some pics? I knew you did :)