From newborn to 1 year pictures

Newborn

One Month photos - I included the one on the right so you could see his face better

No smiles yet :)

Finally sitting up!

Can you see his two teeth?

The day he started crawling :)

1 Year Old

Look who's 1!!!!!

Dear William,

You were born one year ago. One year ago we were blessed with the most amazing gift ever. Your daddy and I have fallen in love with you every single day since then and it excites me to know you and watch you grow each one of those days. The month that you were conceived, I prayed and prayed and prayed for God to give you to me. He didn't give you to us because I prayed, but I have thanked and thanked and thanked Him for you every week and every month. I look forward to you waking up every morning even if I couldn't wait for you to go to bed the last night. You can be a handful, but I still miss you when we are apart for too long.






You are just about a pro at walking now. You turn around in circles, pick up toys and I think you even drank out of your cup while walking. More importantly, when you do fall, you get right back up even in the middle of the room. I am also sooo relieved that you can climb down stairs backwards and feet first. I'm glad that I don't have to watch you so closely to make sure you are safe. You are learning your limits, but you are also pushing them safely. You say, "All done" and "Hot" ... you put your finger in your mouth when you want to eat or drink and you point to things with your pointer finger instead of your whole hand now.

Along with your walking and talking, you now think that you are a two year old. Maybe this is normal, but I wasn't expecting the headstrong part of you to come out in one month. I am not sure how to parent you right now. You want WHAT you want WHEN you want it, but you don't understand the consequences of behaving like a two year old. How can I help you? You throw yourself on the ground and cry about the smallest thing and I can't reason with you, so more often then not I just walk away.

I can predict that the worst time of the day will be at 5pm right before dinner time. But you know what? I see myself in you when you fall apart at that time every day. I'm tired and worn out too. I can't think of anything fun to do and sometimes I just want to sit and cry for no reason. I'm not sure I'm the greatest role model because I lose my patience at the most important time of the day to NOT lose it. Daddy comes home to us both falling apart sometimes. :) We are both going to need to grow together. We both need more of Jesus. I may not know what to do to help you, but I hope you can see me pray more at 5pm. And I hope you see me repenting more at 5pm. I love you and I desire for you to grow in your relationship with the Lord. I hope you never see me as an ideal person, mom or even Christian. I pray that everything I do for you or do badly against you will turn you to Jesus.

As I finish up the year of letters to you, I hope you see how real and weak I am as your parent, but also I hope you see my great love for you and all the stages you went through. I hope you are encouraged by just how far you have come from birth. Never stop changing my son, never stop pushing your limits, never stop looking towards Jesus, and never stop smiling back at me. :) I love you my darling boy!

Your Mommy

Girl or Boy?

Left: 15 weeks                Right: 14 Weeks with William

 You can tell I was showing much faster with this baby!!!

But interestingly, I think my belly growth has slowed down and I think I was sticking out more with William at this time in the pregnancy. 

Left: 18 Weeks                Right: 19 Weeks with William

 So what do you think? Boy or girl this time??? We have been sure it was a boy, but now Isaac is doubting it. Last time we only had a girl name picked out, and we had a boy .... now we only have a boy name picked out. Does that also mean it will be a girl? We find out in two weeks. But for now I wanted to show you the neutral blanket I made for this baby. I love the navy blue and yellow look. I have the perfect girl outfit to match it, but it doesn't photo well so I went with the white dress. I'm just so excited to find out what the baby is! I don't really care which gender we have next. I think this time we will name it ahead of time. Naming a baby at their birth is soooo stressful. 

Have you noticed that the majority of folks having their second child actually have the same gender twice? I am quite convinced that the odds are for us having a boy. Everyone I know, except my sister, are having the same gender as the first. And I know a TON of people having second babies this year. It is astonishing to me! So I'll be surprised if we turn out to be pregnant with a girl. :)

Wholesale Order

Drying in my craft room for two weeks

 I just sent off my very first large order for coasters. I am very pleased with how they turned out. The pictures were sharp and they printed well. I also love my new packaging. I usually tie up a set of coasters with pretty ribbon. That works well at a craft show when folks only buy one or two sets. But with a wholesale order, I had to expect that they would be stacking the coasters on a shelf to sell and I needed different packaging to do that. Isaac was a tremendous help with the formatting and the kraft paper we printed on matches well with my new business cards.








I am going to be making calls in the next month or so to try to drum up more wholesale orders. I would love to get 2-3 large orders a month so that I don't need to sign up for craft shows anymore. Craft shows are expensive and this year childcare has become an issue. That will only get worse with two kiddos, so I'm hoping to do a lot of legwork while I'm pregnant and then just fill out orders that come in next year while we adjust to life with two children.

If you like what you see, message me and 

I'll be happy to make you a set of photo coasters!

Here are the new labels. I would have preferred to have a watermark on the photos themselves and then have my logo on the front of the packaging, but the customer didn't see or understand my vision and so I gave up the rights to having my logo first and foremost. The good thing about the coasters is that they are individually stamped with my logo and website address, so when they throw the packaging away, they will still have a way to find more amazing coasters on my Etsy shop