what a difference a month makes?

Holy cow!  It goes fast!

Zeke at one day

Zeke at one month

Zeke at two months

so did January just fly by?

Maybe I'm a slacker or maybe I'm still getting used to having four kids but man, January is practically over and I've dropped the ball big time on this here blog.  So here is my January update....hang on to your hats, it's a long ride.
For New Year's Eve, I get on youtube and look up the Ball dropping in Time Square from the year before.  Then we watch it at 8:00pm wearing our hats and drinking our "sparkling juice".  We wish each other "Happy New Year", give kisses and go off to bed!  It's wonderful!  Here's the kids watching the ball drop!

The beginning of January came in great and we had Zeke's baby blessing on January 6.  He wore an adorable Tuxedo onesie and spit up on it before I could get pictures so I put it on him yesterday and redid pictures.  He'll never know the picture wasn't from his blessing day unless he reads it here and then in that case, well crud!

We had been struggling to find a renter or sell the old house for four months so on the day of Zeke's blessing, I asked some friends and family to fast with us on what to do about the house.  That very afternoon, the phone rang and it was  a potential renter who wanted to look at the house the very next day.  The following day, they looked at the house and told Kurtis they wanted to rent.  They are moving in on Feb. 1!  I felt like the heavens had opened up and I'm sure I heard a choir of angels singing "Hallelujah!" at that moment.  I've never really had such an unbelievable response to fasting and prayer but boy am I a believer now!

Unfortunately, the night after we found renters I woke up terribly sick with this horrendous stomach flu that has been plaguing people everywhere.  I was up the entire night with vomitting and diarrhea.  Kurtis took the next day off of work.  He went to drop Izzy off at kindergarten at 12:30pm.  At 1:15 the school called saying Sam was throwing up.  Kurtis trotted back up to Bethel to get Sam.  No sooner did he get home then he received a call at 2:00 saying Izzy was now sick at school.  My beloved husband nursed all three of us for two days while trying to keep himself and the youngest two safe from the germies!  My silver lining to all this: as I was starting to get sick, I prayed that I would not vomit before my abdominal incision was healed.   The Lord heard me and I didn't throw up until I was 6 weeks postpartum exactly!  They say that 6 wks is when the internal incision is clear.  I suppose I should be more careful about how I pray!

Since that hideous day, we've managed to heal up and stay healthy for the most part.  We went to see my grandparents and show off the new baby.  My grandpa will be 89 this June and Grandma is 86.  I'm so glad that my kids have had a chance to get to know them.

We also found time to get a family portrait taken.  I got a super great deal on groupon and was able to purchase a $130 canvas for $25!  We will most likely never be able to afford one again but I had to get it and enjoy it.  This is a picture of my picture :)

I managed to snag a picture of Zeke smiling yesterday.  I had to take a few bad ones to get a good one and I was constantly tickling his lips to get him to do it but boy, was it worth it!  He's way too cute for me to handle and I just love this stage we're in with him.

I'll close with some of his fancy duds from this month!

"Handsome runs in the family"

tender moments with Kalen

that sweet moment when your buck-naked 3 year old wraps his arms around your neck and his legs around your waist and hugs you tight...and all you can think of is "please don't pee on me!" 
yeah, those moments are great!