Wow, it’s been a while. Usually that’s a sign of chaos in our life, and this time of silence is no exception. So, here’s a quick update of what is happening in the life of the Saldanha’s.

As you can probably tell from the photo, Eisley Christine the Teeniest Bean is no longer teeny. In fact, she’s a big kid. Running, playing, singing, dancing, talking up a storm, making jokes, getting into everything… it’s amazing. Just the other day she asked for a bowl of toast for breakfast. She often requests to wear one of her many tutus, and wants Baba to play some of “her” songs on the guitar. Thankfully, she loves great music and worshipful music. It’s pure delight. We are past 20 months, and it seems like she’ll be 15 years old tomorrow. Yikes. Slow down, time. Thanks.

I’m sure most people know this by now, but we’re in the process of moving to Des Moines. There will be a detailed and incredibly long post about all of that later, but for now we’ll just keep it light. Our house has been on the market for a few weeks and we’ve had good traffic, but no offers. Equally disappointing has been the houses we’ve viewed so far. But hey, we can walk away with lovely memories and gems such as the smallest bathroom ever built.

Baby Brother is still chugging along. Honestly, we tend to forget about him throughout the day. It’s easy to get caught up in everything that’s going on and just not think about him because he’s not here. Then he sticks his elbow through Katie’s belly and she’s fully aware he’s here. Only two more months, and we can’t wait to meet him!

Baby Cousin Sloane arrived at the beginning of December. She’s lovely! Eisely adores her and still talks about how she cuddled Sloane with a pillow. Don’t worry, she didn’t smother her, the pillow was on her lap.

The elder Saldanha’s are hanging in there. Full disclosure: it’s been a rough couple weeks. I’m not afraid to expose the selfishness in myself and say that I have been the cause of much turmoil in our house. Circumstances have taken a toll on the ol’ Chris Spirit and I find myself discouraged a lot more than usual, which leads to conflict in our house. I think we’re getting better at it, but it’s safe to say this is one of the more challenging moments in our life together. If only to expose the ugliness in my heart and to be better at communicating with and serving each other, I’m thankful for this crazy time. It is such a good reminder of the brokenness that is all around us, and how amazing Jesus is. We destroy, He repairs. Daily. I want to be more like Him every day, and I’m sure Katie wouldn’t mind that, either.

In conclusion, pray for us. Please. PLEASE! We have a house we’d like to sell, a house we need to find, a toddler, a newbie-in-process, work, relationships to maintain, relationships to build, marriage, family… just lots of stuff.

But if this angel face tells me anything, it’s that we’ll be alright.

For Christmas, Eisley got a baby doll and aptly named her Doma. Seriously, we asked Eisley what the doll’s name was on multiple occasions and she refers to her as Doma. We think Eisley is going to love being a big sister.

Well, it’s been almost a month since I threw a baby shower for my sis and my very first NIECE. Sorry for the delay. Sometimes I forget about blogging.

I’ve decided that I absolutely love decorating and planning for parties. The food prep, however, not my fav. But if I could just team up with someone who loves doing food, we would have a pretty sweet business. Thankfully, my sweet mom was on hand to help with EVERYTHING. I knew that I wanted to go with a grey/silver & yellow theme, since these are the colors of Baby Girl’s nursery. I figured any cool thing that I made/bought for the shower, Em could potentially use it in her room.

The vintage, French country, shabby chic loving side of me had to take a backseat if I wanted to plan a shower that EMILY would enjoy. It wasn’t too hard coming up with simplistic, modern ideas for her (thanks, Pinterest!)

We spray painted babies breath metallic silver and I found that chevron table runner online for really cheap! Who knew you could spray paint babies breath? Well, you can. And it’s awesome. The picture doesn’t do it justice. I also spray painted old glass vases I found in our cupboard. The ones on the mantel in the first pic look pretty sweet, if I do say so myself. I think they look like mercury glass! Whoda thunk?

…to make sure that EM got the comfy chair…

The ladies chatting before present opening…

All the love for Baby Girl…look at all that PINK!

Me & Sis…and Baby Fetus Cousins…

Big Girl Cousin wanted in on the action…

Phew! Em got TONS of sweet, girly, NEW things for baby! No more hand-me-downs for THIS girl! Well, except from Eisley of course! We’re so excited for Baby Girl to come any time now, really! Emily is due the first week of December, and GavieLove was nine days early, so sweetie could come SOON! I’m especially grateful that Miss E is going to have a girl cousin so close in age, because if Saldzie’s keep having boys, then Baby Girl Hulling may be the closest thing E will have to a sister!

We love you Em & Baby! So exciiiiited!

Cool tricks, Eisley!

Might want to grab a tissue before you watch this.

I’ve decided to add something to my prayers for Eisley: That she grows up loving to GIVE.

Only forty days until Christmas!

Just a sampling of what is a daily occurrence in our home. A daughter being loved, adored, tickled, encouraged, instructed, doted upon, guided, and just plain delighted in by her father.
Sadly this isn’t the case in some homes in our world.
I am incredibly thankful that it is the case in ours.

READY….

SET…

BOOOM!

Even when Chris is absolutely spent, and Li’l Miss clearly is not, he will keep on throwing, tickling, snorgling, and wrestling.

This girl is going to grow up knowing that the world is her oyster…because she knows her Baba loves her.

People always comment how much Eisley Christine looks like Chris. I don’t know if it’s the big dark eyes or the olive skin, but even today, when I took her in to see some old friends at my old job, the comments came flowing, “Oh little Chris! Look at her! She is EXACTLY HIM!”

Ya think?

Chris did some photoshop magic this morning. That’s Chris on the right as a little Monchichi circa…1985?86? But now looking at the side by side, Chris and I both decided that while everyone always says what a dead ringer E is for Chris, there are a LOT of Mama in her…cheeks and SHAPE of eyes, namely. Yay! So she IS my daughter after all!!!!!!!! (But aren’t they just the cutest??? Oh my…)
In OTHER exciting news, we found out yesterday that Baby #2 is a…

….

B   O   Y  ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Yep! The ultrasound tech found “it” right away and there’s no denying a sweetie sweetie SON will be added to our mix! I have thought pretty much the whole pregnancy that Baby was going to be a Boy. Not sure why or what it was. But sure enough, Eisley will get to show Brother how to collect rocks, how to grab ants with just your thumb and forefinger, and where it is exactly that poop comes out.

(I know, I know. I’m not sure where this is all coming from, but Little Miss LADY has been quite taken lately with the whole idea of…excrement: who does it, where it comes out of, and most joyously of all, how to say the delightful word. “POOOOP!” has been proclaimed loudly at Target, Hy-Vee, etc. (Better that word than her OTHER new favorite word – Clock! Which is said without the ‘L’. Yeah, I know…)

With that said, Baby Girl is SUPER excited to be a big sissy. She’s going to be an awesome little mommy and teacher for Brother.
Even if his first word is “POOOOP!”

I can’t deny my love for 90′s hip hop, including Bone Thugs ‘N Harmony. So great.

But this isn’t about Bizzy, Layzie or the rest of the crew. Nor is this about Brittney Spears’ 2002 commercial failure. It’s about the reality of being at those crossroads in life, and sometimes feeling helpless.

This particular crossroads is the perennially, hotly-argued vaccine debate. I’m not here to promote one side or the other, nor am I really looking for anyone to win me to their side. We have a plan for our family that we feel comfortable with. It took a lot of research, wisdom, prayer, and ultimately faith.

I should say, “had” a plan. We got a letter from the clinic that our pediatrician is part of saying they will terminate their relationship with us if we don’t comply to the CDC recommended schedule. This came as a complete shock because our pediatrician has been VERY good about presenting the available options, voicing concerns one way or the other, and then leaving the decision up to us. And she supports whatever decision we make. Now our hand is being forced to make a decision, comply with the CDC or find a new doc. Which isn’t easy as more and more doctors are feeling the pressure to follow the CDC recommendations and thereby leaving any freedom on the parents’ part at the door.

I’m not here to bag on the CDC either. I understand why they have recommended what they have, but I also feel that some recommendations are unnecessary. For example, do we really need a chicken pox vaccine? Our generation and generations past lived through it. But I digress.

And I’m not here to bag on big pharma. But I will say that, and I can speak from my own heart, people are more often motivated by money than doing good. I know I am. Just saying.

So what do we do? This is our current crossroads, but it’s not like it’s the first crossroads in our family, marriage or individual lives. We do what we always do: seek wisdom, seek God, seek faith. I fully, 100% trust in God’s goodness, but the hard part is it doesn’t always look how I want. We do our due diligence, ask tough and important questions and pray for God’s goodness to reign in our life. Whatever the outcome, we have to have faith that God is bigger. God has shown up in BIG ways in our life, and we have to trust His faithfulness is better than our faithfulness.

Besides, we could always get in a car accident on the way home.

Whilst not a huge fan of a “holiday” that “celebrates” the scary, morbid, macabre,  etc., I do NOT, however, have a problem with Eisley putting on a costume and getting me and Chris free candy.

Which is precisely what we did yesterday.
Eisers became a not-so cowardly lion. And wanted to floss. Before we went “trick-or-treating.” On down Mainstreet Ames. In the middle of the day.

It’s quite a sweet thing what Ames does: Most stores on Main Street have a huge bowl of candy set up and from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. on Halloween, kids go up and down collecting their fair share of sweets (for their moms). We started out at Cafe Diem and met up with some friends…

…friends like “Jem” and “The Incredible (Lounging) Hulk” and his big brother “Spiderman.”

A woman on a mission.

Jem & Lion got a little tuckered out…

See? Tuckered.

We got home about 15 minutes before Baba came home for lunch. So we sat on the front step and enjoyed a sucker. And I will say, she ALSO got a mini Milky Way tonight after dinner because she ate all of her couscous and peas and milk.
So, enjoy it, Eisie girl. You got 364 days until Mama lets you have another Milky Way! Yay! I’m THAT mom! Yaaaay!

Love you, Sugar Buns! Your buns have been extra sugary the last couple days and boy has that been fun! XOXOXOXOXO

~Your (that) Mom

“She is a miracle; blessed be the Lord who can create such marvels! I say in truth that she appeared so gracious and in every way so pleasing that those who looked at her experienced in themselves a sweetness so pure and gentle that they were unable to describe it; and there was no one who could look at her without immediately sighing.” – La Vita Nuova XXVI, Dante Alighieri

 

I’m pretty much the worst at taking pictures.
We had a wonderful weekend with an infinite number of picture-worthy moments, and yet scanning through the shots on the camera, I took like four.

Oh well.

This past Thursday marked our FOURTH completed year of marriage. On to five. Wow. That seems odd and perfect and a lot and not enough all at the same time. I’m thankful to our Lord for showing us (pretty much daily) all the crap that we need to work on in order to have a harmonious, joy-filled marriage. It also doesn’t hurt that Christopher is THE most patient, loving, thoughtful, selfless person I have ever known or will know. Truth.

Friday evening, he and I headed BEANLESS down to Des Moines for a lovely getaway! This was the first time we had spent the night away from Sugar in a year and a half. The last time we didn’t have her in a 100 foot proximity to us whilst sleeping was the several hours before she was born. She’s super awesome and all, but oh my word, I was so excited! She doesn’t do so hot sleeping anywhere but her own bed, so my parents graciously (I say graciously but you know they were so pumped to do it) offered to come to Ames, and spend the night at our house so she could have the most routine night possible. Without Mama and Baba.

So Christopher and I headed down to Des Moines and checked in at the Hotel Fort Des Moines, which is where we stayed our very first night as Mr & Mrs. Then we headed to Miyabi 9 which is a really cool sushi restaurant in the East Village. Really delicious stuff. Chris had some raw stuff. With chopsticks. And I had COOKED fish with a fork. I would be worthless in Japan. As far as eating with chopsticks. I may as well have been trying to hold them in my toes. It was that awkward.
Then we walked around the corner to Alba for dessert. Then made a pit stop at Dahl’s because Baby has really been loving SweetTarts lately. Don’t know why, but YES PLEASE!
I was so paranoid in the hotel that we were going to have this raucous bachelorette party camped next door that was going to keep me up all night. My ONE night to sleep long and hard through the night. Bachelorettes weren’t a problem, but I did wake up to the clanking radiator. Oh well. And I also figured that my one night to sleep long and hard would find me waking bright eyed and busytailed at 10:00 a.m.
Hello, 6:30! Again, oh well.
After a wonderful breakfast at Chef’s Kitchen, we headed back home. Not a super long time away from home, but it was so refreshing just being with my Bubbs and only him for a good 17 hours or so.
Here are (literally) the shots I took from our weekend away.

…aaand a belly shot of Lil Miss(ter?) at 18 weeks…

Not sure why I thought that was a good pose.
Speaking of Lil’est Bubbs, we find out what s(he) is on November 8th! That’s soon!
Little caveat here: For some reason, I’m thinking this time, Babe is a boy. Don’t know why. Neither of us have a PREFERENCE to what baby is; a little girl would be awesome because sisters are awesome. I would know. I have one and I am one. And it’s awesome. Plus, with a springtime birthday, all of Eisers’ old clothes would be seasonally correct! And we have 22 pounds of proof that little girls are hilariously wonderful.
On the other hand, having a boy would be super awesome as well. Because boys are just plain awesome. And Eisley loves rocks and bugs and having short hair, so she would make a perfect sissy for a boy. So really, we’re just excited to KNOW. We could really care less which it is.

Saturday afternoon also included a wonderful wedding of a dear, sweet friend of mine, Sylvia. She was one of the first friends I made when I started dating Chris and having a life up in Ames. Saturday afternoon, she married her Love and it was so perfect. Eisers was in awe of her beautiful dress.


Ah, I love both of those girls! Congratulations, my dear Slyvie! Couldn’t be happier for you!

Our friend Travis also gave E his boutonniere…

….which she promptly began to pull apart and sprinkle the petals on the floor. So looks like SOMEONE is getting all primed and ready to be a FLOWERGIRL! So, we’re taking names and numbers! If you want the girl with the biggest chocolate brown eyes to throw down at your wedding (petals, that is), let me know! Ahem, klee. I’m lookin at you.

We decided to stay at home from church this morning, just so we could have some family time. Which included eating donuts and watching the Manchester United v Manchester City derby this morning! Go Red Devils!

We won’t discuss the outcome.

(If you’re familiar with our home, you may be confused by this photo. Chris set up his laptop on the counter so we could watch the game. For some reason, the 5 free channels we get on our tv does NOT include the BBC’s Premier League channel! Weird. Hence Eisley staring at what would seem to be the wall. She truly was engaged in the game and would yell “GOOOOOAL!” at (in)appropriate times.)

(And she is eating blueberries although by what appears to be in her left hand, it looks as though she is eating a penny).

The End.