our life is full of JOY!

We have been so blessed! I never knew that my life could be filled with so much joy until I became a mother! On this mother's day I'm going to take some time to brag about my adorable daughter and loving family =)

Most recently my mom and stepdad came out to visit for easter. We had soooo much fun. Alahna was throughly spoiled by Grammy and Papa and loved every minute of it. We got a bunch of stuff together for the baby that we are all so anxiously awaiting. Little boy clothes have become so much fun =) Alahna got a new rain coat and wanted to wear it everywhere. It was super cute! Here are a few pics of their trip:










We had fun dying easter eggs with Noah and the babies even got into the Easter spirit...HAHA.





I'm so thankful that Easter isn't only about candy and eggs, we know the true reason to celebrate is Jesus' ressurection!! The most exciting day in the Christian year. We think it is important for Alahna to know this so we told her the easter basket was from Jesus and told her to say thank you Jesus for my presents. Pretty darn cute and much better than a silly rabbit =)

Eric's birthday had two big events rolled in one day, of course his birthday AND Alahna got her cast off!!! She was such a trooper the last 3 weeks. I think she almost liked having it for all the attention she got wherever we went. She would proudly say "look at my cast" and "I broke my leg but it's getting fixed". Eric said she actually cried and said she didn't want it off when they were at the doctor, but then when it was off she was really excited to put on TWO socks and TWO shoes. Here are some pics and a REALLY cute video of her singing happy birthday to her daddy! (darn the video wouldn't work, but I'm going to keep trying and hopefully you will get to see it soon!)






We also started swimming lessons (aka aquatic rehab =) Alahna is such a little fish. I actually got in with everyone so I only have one pic of playing before class. This rec center is AWESOME!! More to come on our little fish.




How can you not feel blessed when you have an amazing family like this!!! More amazement to come in less than two months with BBH (baby boy Higginson's) arrival!!

A week of FIRSTS

Last week was full of some good and some bad "firsts"....

Eric finally made me break down and get Alahna's hair cut. It was getting really long and uneven, but the curls were so pretty that I was resistant. I had a hair cut set for myself and he suggested to call to see if we could add Alahna on. Husbands are really good for those spur of the moment, just bite the bullet and do it decisions. Being a typical mom I was parnoid the whole time that she was going to make a crazy rash movement and a huge clump would come off, necessitating a really short do. HAHA. She actually did surprisingly well and the hair stylist was amazing! We will definitely be going back there again =)







The second "first" was not so fun...at a mear two years and five months Alahna got her first broken bone!!! She is one tough girl and is always doing daredevil stunts like climbing up really high playground equipment, so surprisingly (and thankfully) this actually just happened while she was on flat surface at the park! We are unsure of exactly what happened, but she was running and she said a little boy pushed her. She must have caught her leg just right! Eric took her to the doctor right away, but she seemed to be doing ok so they oppted to watch and xray the following day if she wasn't walking. That night she totally decompensated and wouldn't walk at all. It was so pathetic. Some of the sad phrases were "I can't walk mama" and "I want to try to walk" which would then follow with a few limping steps and a big cry! Poor baby!!! It totally broke my heart! They went to the pediatric orthopedist in the am and ended up getting the result of a probably growth plate fracture or small toddler's fracture that didn't show up yet. They still wanted to cast it for 3 weeks and then see how she's doing. Thank God for all the prayers for her, because that is a pretty short time and she does have a little shoe that we can put on it for her to walk. She was pretty tired and didn't know what to think of the whole thing the first few days, but really perked up today. She learned how to walk pretty good and even got to participate in the easter egg hunt at papa's house today! What a trooper!!


I had my first OKAP exam which is basically like a mock board exam for ophthalmology. Our program takes this very seriously so I've been spending all my extra time (after Alahna goes to sleep mostly) studying for the last two and a half months. I'm really glad that I can finally spend some time with Eric and get excited about our new addition that will be making his appearance in a little over 2 1/2 months!!

The big show, pasta extravaganza, and clean baby

Well, in the last 24 hours we have had quite the fun to share.

The big show: Last night we went to Elmo's Green Thumb by Seaseme Street Live! It was so much fun to see Alahna's face light up when we told her we were going to see Elmo! Too cute! This was her big reward for doing so good on the potty. She is almost 100% potty trained and we are sooooo excited!! We have a video called Potty Power so now daily we say "Who has potty power?" and she replies "Alahna's got potty power"! Today she even went poop by herself on the potty chair!! Hopefully this streak keeps up and we can enjoy some big girl independence before our little man comes along and we are changing billions of diapers again.

Can you say Pasta?: Last night after the show we came home to eat some pasta. Afterward Eric was holding Alahna and he was raising his eyebrows up and down in a really funny way. (If you haven't actually looked at someone doing this, then you might want to. It's actually quite funny.) Alahna thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen, so we were all cracking up laughing. Shortly after she kept rubbing her nose and blowing like there was something in it. I didn't think much of it until I was getting her ready for bed and I saw something dangling out of her nose. Low and behold it was a piece of pasta!!! I pulled on it and it kept coming! HAHAHAHA! I think I laughed so hard I almost cried. The funniest thing was she had no care in the world that she had this pasta hanging out her nose while she was playing with her doll house! =)

Clean baby: Like most children, Alahna has become attached to a baby doll. She calls her "Tiny's mama" because she has another baby that is really small so this one is clearly bigger and must be her mom. She caries it around a lot and insisted on bringing her to the show last night. I was a little weary but thought, how hard would it be to keep track of. Well long story short Eric put it in the diaper bag and it must have fallen out in the crowd! I was secretely freaking out in my head about what we were going to do and when the break down for the baby would happen! Eric quickly suggested going to target to see if they still sell it. After two stops I luckily found the same baby doll today. I almost didn't recognize her outfit because it was so bright and clean!! So I brought her home and secretely placed her in the kitchen on her little kitchen set. When she saw her she got really excited then picked her up and stared for a bit (probably thinking, what happened this isn't my tiny mama). I quickly said, "Mama gave her a bath. Now she is nice and clean." Alahna was thrilled! She gave the baby a big hug and said "Thank you mama. She's all clean!" Then she said "I'm so happy to see you baby!"
I hate that we had to lie to her, but am sooooooooooo glad that she's still too young to realize that isn't her original doll!!! Oh the joys of when it's ok to lie.

Oh Boy!

We had our ultrasound on Friday and as many of you know HE showed off easily and we got to meet our SON! I was actually in a state of shock for most of the day. It was pretty funny, but I honestly didn't even consider the fact that the baby could be a boy until the morning of the ultrasound. I guess because I already have a girl and all girl things, I'm a girl and I wanted a sister so badly for my daughter that the thought of having a boy never crossed my mind. Haha! Eric had even thought the baby was a girl since we had talked about it so much, but secretely was hoping for a boy. He cooperated very well to let us know he is a boy right away, so there was no suspense. The rest of the ultrasound was actually a bit difficult. I guess he is asserting his independence already and didn't want to position the way the tech needed him to. We didn't mind this because we got to see more of him (as she was trying to get him to flip over). He was head down and butt up, so we didn't get any good profile shots. I think the tech felt bad for us, so she put on the 3D probe and instantly we fell in LOVE! It is so amazing what they can see with that technology! We were so excited to get such an intimate look at our son! What a special moment. God truely is amazing.

After the ultrasound I had to go to work, but Eric told me Alahna gave a big pouty face when he told her she was going to have a brother. She definitely wanted a sister, but she is a tom-boy at heart and will love chasing him around, playing trucks (teaching him to play dolls and kitchen) and sports. We went shopping at Kohls yesterday and I finally got really excited to have a little boy. The polo shirt/shorts one-piece outfits are to die for! I think he'll live in those for the summer =) It is definitely going to be different but I can't wait to experience what a little ham he'll be =) Eric is sooooo excited! He's really put some time in playing dolls, etc and can't wait to get some manly toys in the house. He actually went and bought Alahna a small monster truck after the ultrasound!!

Now on to which name to pick, bedding, how to incorporate boy stuff into our house... half way there! Before we know it he'll be here! =)

Big Baby

Well, its official I'm definitely showing!! Its fun to see the baby grow and Alahna's reaction to my ever growing belly. She now calls it the big baby!! Too funny. She sweetly surprised me when I asked her what she wanted to thank God for during our nightly prayer tonight...she said "the big baby"! I said yes Thank GOD for our baby getting bigger! Amen!!

Sweet prayer and night-night

I just wanted to share what a sweet girl Alahna is!

Now that she is sleeping in a toddler bed, my favorite time of day is snuggling up in her bed and reading her stories before bed. After the second or third book we always take a break to say our nightly prayer. I just made up a really simple prayer for her to be thankful to God for our family. It goes, Thank you God, Thank you for mama, Thank you for dada, Thank you for Alahna and Thank you for our new baby, Amen. Now that she is getting older and can contribute I've been asking her what she wants to thank God for. It's so fun to hear what she comes up with every night. Most of the time she just looks around her room and says something, but sometimes she really shocks me. After we told her about the baby and I started showing, she said "for the baby" for about 3 or 4 nights straight. So sweet. She has also thanked God for various things like sleep, pillow, Elmo, horsey, Hillary (our neighbor- her best friend's mom), the ABCs, potty. I need to start writing down what she says everynight. It will be a fun thing to look back on.

Tonight she amazed me even more. She wanted to get out of bed to go potty (yep we are in the midst of potty training...ahhh...going fairly well, hoping to have a short break from diapers before the baby comes). I decided to hold her and sing a song that I used to sing everynight when she was a baby before I put her down (until she started sleeping in the big girl bed). She actually remembered the words and sang with me!!! So cute. It seriously melted my heart.
It goes like this:
Good night, sleep tight
Mama loves you sweet baby
Yes I do, I love you
and you are my sweet baby
Sent from God, up above
in to my arms tonight
She hummed along and then chimed in with the last word of each verse. What a sweet heart. I can't even imagine loving another child as much as I love her. We are so excited to see how God spreads the same love for more children! Getting pumped up for "cheating" this time around and finding out the sex at our next ultrasound. Only 4 more weeks!!! YAY!

Soon we will be a family of FOUR! (or six if you count the dogs)

We are so excited to announce the upcoming birth of our next child!

Alahna is very excited to be a big sister!! She even knows there is a baby in mama's belly and says "hi baby" and said "night-night baby" tonight =)

Now that I'm out of the first trimester (I'll be 14 weeks this week) we are ready to celebrate with everyone. I was fortunate to only be sick for about two weeks and have honestly almost forgotten that I'm pregnant most days! I feel half guilty and half thankful for my easy first trimester. Being a wife, resident, mom of a two year old, and owner of 2 dogs keeps my mind busy enough =) We are definitely convinced that this one is quite different than Alahna. I was exhausted (fell asleep by 7pm every night) with Alahna. This time I haven't been extra tired, but I have been craving lots of random foods and was sick for a bit (both of which didn't happen at all last time)! It's amazing how each child is so different even within the womb. We are so excited to "cheat" this time and find out if Alahna will be getting a sister or a brother!! Only 6 more weeks. Yay!

I was fortunate enough to get a first trimester ultrasound and officially fell in love with this baby. It is so amazing to see how wonderfully made this little one is! God is so good!! I'll post pictures soon.

Please be praying for an easy pregnancy, proper growth and development for the baby and a health baby in the end. I'm not going to get much time off with this one, so we are going to need extra support. Luckily I have the most amazing husband! His laid back and loving personality is just what we will be needing in our house these next few months. Looking forward to a summer baby =)