The Gift of a Son

This is a very Merry Christmas for us. This morning, we found out that we are having a son! What a Christmas present! We are very excited, and look forward to seeing our new son in May.

Procrastination

Delton is outside putting a ladder rack on his truck. Ezra is in bed (pray for him- he has a bad cough!), and I am facing a living room destroyed by toys and a kitchen filled with supper and cookie dishes. Thus the title to this blog. I didn't mean to stay on the computer so long, but one thing led to another and here I am writing a new blog.

We are going to my brother's wedding in January in CA. Does anyone have a maternity cocktail dress I could borrow? The invitation stated that dress is "cocktail attire". I would rather not buy a dress I will wear only once... Let me know if you have anything you think might work.

Whoops. I think I hear Delton coming inside. I better get busy!

(The picture was taken 12.24.04- an engagement picture. This year on 12.24.07, we will be having a sonogram of our second child. What a difference three years makes!)

Lehman update

Ezra seems to have finally gotten the concept of crawling down! We opened up a tunnel that previously had no appeal to him, and he got right down and crawled through! Delton had fun playing with the tunnel as well!

Delton bought a saw on Black Friday and opened it in our living room. When Ezra woke up, he was fascinated by this piece of machinery. He must have spent 20 minutes moving every movable piece and sticking a screwdriver in every hole. We finally had to pull him away to feed him breakfast!

We enjoyed spending Thanksgiving with Delton's family and mine as well- what a blessing! This is a picture of my dad's sister, Aunt Lizzie, holding Ezra at our Thanksgiving get-together.

My sister and her family came down for my birthday. We had a great time watching the Waynesboro Parade.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I am enjoying Christmas music, although I am amazed that some stations are playing nothing but Christmas tunes from now until Christmas. Can you imagine working at a radio station like that? I would go crazy!! There are only so many Christmas songs, and some of them are pretty cheesy! Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving!

New baby and Ezra

I am 13 weeks along in my pregnancy. Last Thursday I was able to hear the heartbeat again at a dr appointment- 165 beats/minute. Is that fast? Does that mean it is a boy or a girl? :)

I am so excited about the upcoming holiday season. What fun! I think just having Ezra makes the holidays more fun- having him meet people, creating memories, seeing his enjoyment of the decorations and events. Last year he was only 3 months old at Thanksgiving. I was too worried about his sleep and how I was going to nurse him discreetly to really enjoy the day. This year, I'll just let him run- he'll be happy! We have the Lehman get-together Thanksgiving morning, then my dad's family get-together in Harrisburg at 1 p.m. Often, we go over to Grandma Sollenbergers in the evening. So it will be a full day! Christmas will be more laid back- thankfully! I want to stay in my pajamas all day if I want to, drink coffee, and open presents- hopefully with a few feet of snow covering the ground outside- with Christmas music playing, of course!

After the holidays, we are flying out west for my brother's wedding, then attending a cen-pe-co convention in Georgia. This will take us up to mid-February- then only three more month til B-day (Baby Day!!!). I hope the time goes by quickly. I can't wait to hold another little one.

Enjoy your holiday preparations!

Tickets Taken!

The Casting Crown tickets have been spoken for!

Casting Crown Tickets up for grabs!

Delton won two Casting Crown tickets from WCRH. We won't be able to use them. The stats on the concert:
Thursday, November 8 (this Thursday)
7 p.m.
Patriot Center- Fairfax, VA (about 1 hr. 45 minutes South of Waynesboro)
Anyone who can use them is welcome to them. Obviously, they are available on a first come basis! Let me know ASAP if you want them. Call, email, or post a comment. I'll let you know if they are still available when you contact me. I hope someone is able to use them!

MTeC, Holloween, and other events

The weather has finally gotten cold. I haven't minded the warm weather, though. Yesterday was MTeC, and I was not prepared for how cold it was!! It was beautiful weather for the racers, which was the most important thing! Delton and his team members did great. We haven't received the final stats yet, but they placed around 11th out of 32 teams. No too shabby!

We handed out candy to the neighborhood kids on Thursday evening. I hadn't thought about the scary masks some of the kids would be wearing. Ezra did not like them! It wasn't something I wanted him to be exposed to! It was enjoyable to be outside with everyone on our street. We had a lot of candy, and still ran our before Trick-or-Treating was over. Oh well!

Ezra wanted to help daddy do dishes the other evening. Delton pulled up a chair, and Ezra was in heaven. It was so much fun to watch. I am sure Ezra won't find quite the same level of enjoyment in dishes when he is around 10 years old!!

Ezra has been exibiting some independent behavior (a.k.a. tantrums). I could use some advice from other moms as to how to handle this. He is 14 months old.

Elim for the Weekend

Delton, Ezra and I, along with a teen from church, visited Elim this past Sunday through Tuesday for their prospective student event. We had a wonderful time. Delton and I really enjoyed connecting with some old friends. I was able to see my Elim roommate for the first time in 3 1/2 years. She has a boy 3 months younger than Ezra. It was fun to see them interact. It is amazing what a difference 3 1/2 years makes. I left Elim single, only a month into my dating relationship with Delton. Now, here I am married for 2 1/2 years, with my second child on the way. Makes me feel old- like I am an adult!

Pregnancy has hit the intense nauseau stage. Enough said!

And then there were 4!

Yes, it is true. We are expecting child number 2!! I am 8 weeks along, and my due date is May 16th. We are very excited and can't wait to hold this new addition to our family.

More fun with the little man

Ezra and I have had fun over the last few days. He is truly my "buddy", following me around throughout the day. He loves any sort of animal. We spent time outside this morning, sitting on our porch and pointing to the birds. He loved it. This evening we went to Twin Kiss and looked at the deer. He is fascinated by the animals.

I'll load a picture of Ezra with a hairstyle daddy introduced! So cute!

The Last Few Weeks

We have had a good last few days and weeks. Ezra is growing so much, and his personality is starting to shine. He is a happy, content baby, but by no means is he laid back. He knows what he wants! I'll share some pictures that capture who Ezra is!

The People You Meet

As I set my tray down on the table, an old man sat down across the table from me, put his hands on my tray, and said, "Thanks. I'm so hungry!". He looked up at me, smiled, stood up and walked away. I loved it. There was something great about that momentary contact with someone who was having fun living life.
This interaction with the man at McDonalds today got me thinking about the fun people I've met- people who are oblivious to the possible effect they may have on others. Our neighbor sat outside with Delton and I last evening. She talked for about 45 minutes- keeping us laughing as she simply talked about her life. Standing up to leave, she launched into another story, enthralling me with her hand motions, body movement, and expressive language. It was Terica doing what Terica did best- simply being herself.
Open people appeal to me, and, I think, to others, because they don't have the hang-ups most of us have. I think through my interactions, my words, my personality, as I go about my day. I stifle random thoughts because I think through the possible ramifications. I am safe- but I prefer to be around people that are a bit edgy!
What would it take for me to get edgy- for me to know that I am having fun with life, being who I know God created me to be, and letting others enjoy their unexpected encounters with me? I'll have to think about this.

Fun with Friends and Family

This is Ezra's Great-Grandpa Lehman. They look like they are related, don't they!

Delton is holding Nathan Gabriel Lehman- just 9 days old. Nathan is the son of friends of ours. Delton fell in love!
Ezra is being entertained by Grandpa Lehman. I don't think anyone can get Ezra to laugh like his grandpa!

I haven't blogged too much lately. Life has been busy for both Delton and I- especially for Delton. Delton starts selling for Cen-Pe-Co on Monday. We are very excited about this change. It will be a challenge, but Delton is looking forward to learning the art of sales. Delton is also looking forward to working with people. It will be fun to see Delton dress nice for work- no more work shirts and baseball caps!

I am enjoying my time with Ezra. He is in a pointing stage at the moment. When I get him out of his crib in the morning, he is already pointing at everything around him and trying to communicate to us his opinion of what he sees. We try to guess what he wants. "Yes, that is a light. No, that is daddy's cell phone." Sometimes we have no idea what he is pointing to- he just likes to point! He also loves to wander the house, and is especially content if he has a little toy in his hand as he wanders. He is babbling up a storm. I can't wait until I am able to understand what he is saying.

Soup and Story night ended last night. We had invited some local friends to our house every Sunday night in July and August for soup and a story. We read through St. Ben by John Fischer. It is an excellent, moving story of the friendship of two young boys. It is a story Delton and I have both read many times, and are still moved every time we pick it up. We finished the book last evening. Having friends over every Sunday night was fun. I am sad that we won't have a scheduled time for relationship since the book is finished. We'll just have to be more purposeful in setting up times to get together with people.

Blessings to you. I hope your Labor Day is free of labor and a day of rest and rejuvenation.

~Charity

Ezra is 1!

Ezra turned one yesterday. It is hard to believe that a year ago today I was in the hospital, holding my tiny 7 lbs. 12 oz baby- and a year later my little baby is 22 lbs, 33 inches long. He grew 3 1/2 inches in the last 3 1/2 months. We had a fun party with grandparents, great-grandparents, friends and family. Ezra wasn't too interested in the cake! My sister, Kara, spent hours creating two train cakes. It was so much fun to see them take shape as they were decorated.

More Pict's

We went to Caledonia last weekend- Ezra had fun getting wet with daddy. Ezra has found a new favorite toy- my keys. He doesn't understand that they have a use other than a toy! When I grab my keys to go somewhere, Ezra thinks I need to hand them over. You can tell by his expression that he is quite pleased with himself!!

Fun Pictures

We celebrated Delton's 26th birthday on Tuesday. So much fun to have Ezra there to celebrate with us.

Ezra's second cousin came to play yesterday. Ezra enjoyed playing with him, although Ezra wasn't too sure about sharing his toys!

So much fun!

We had a busy weekend- the Sollenberger reunion at Cove Friday and Saturday, a graduation party on Sunday afternoon, and friends over on Sunday evening. It was a great time. Ezra slept in a tent for the first time, went swimming and loved it, and did great in all the activity. I am posting some pictures from the last couple days.

The Mess picture: I wanted to check email and keep Ezra happy while I was occupied, so I let him play with his diaper bag. Whoops. I saw the crackers in his hand an instant before they were all over him. Oh well, I rationalized. This will probably buy me a few more minutes- and it did! He loved it!

The "daddy and Ezra" picture:This evening, Ezra was tired. He was walking along the couch and putting his head down on the cushions. Delton came over to him, and Ezra laid his head down on Delton. So precious!

I am curious as to who is checking my blog. Please leave a quick comment if you can and let me know that you are checking the site. If you have never left a comment before, it's really easy. Just hit the comment button on the bottom of this posting and follow the directions- you can sign in as anonymous and just put your name in the message. I look forward to hearing from you!

Walking

Ezra has started walking! Yesterday, I had so much fun discovering his abilities. He was able to walk, stop and look around, then keep on walking. Several times, he let go of his support and took off by himself. It seems unreal- like this is just a fluke and next week he'll go back to being my little baby. He is just about 11 months old- which means his first birthday is just around the corner. I was not ready for this! I am enjoying this stage, and look forward to all the upcoming stages, but at times still miss the times I could hold him for hours. Now, I am thankful when he lets me give him a hug! :) What an amazing journey. I'm having a blast!

Fourth of July 5K Run

We did it! Delton and I participated in Waynesboro's annual 5K Firecracker Run. Delton's goal was to do it in under 23 minutes (best case scenario) or 24 minutes (more realistic scenario!). He finished in 22 minutes and 56 seconds!! Amazing! My goal was to finish in under 45 minutes, which is when you have to move to the sidewalk if you are still on the course. I wanted to finish on the road, and I did. I finished in 42 1/2 minutes. I ran the first mile, and ran about half of the next two. After not training for several weeks, and doing very little running during my training, I was extremely pleased with how it went. I felt a euphoria similar to how I felt when I had Ezra- I pushed myself farther than I thought I could go- and succeeded! I'm already thinking about what my goal will be next year...maybe simply to run the whole thing? We'll see!

A Crazy Life

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. My parents and three youngest sisters came in two weeks ago. My parents left my sisters here and left for a conference in N.C. for a week. Delton, Ezra and I, along with my sisters, moved in to Daryl and Rhoda's house for the week (they were in Canada). For a week I got to reconnect with Cameo, Katelyn, and Andrea. We went swimming, shopping, played innumerable games of rummy, scrapbooked, went out to Applebee's (girls night out!), and had a great time. Ezra got to know his aunts, and they were able to experience the gift of Ezra!

Ezra has taken several steps on his own over this past weekend. I saw his steps for the first time on Sunday in the nursery. He took two steps towards me. He is a little over ten months. It is hard to believe my baby is so close to walking unassisted.

I look forward to life slowing down. My sisters got me inspired to scrapbook again, so I look forward to taking time for creativity.

My family is leaving tomorrow morning. I will miss them.