What We’ve Been Up To

We had a lovely few weeks off from blogging, spending time with our families. While we enjoyed the break, we’re looking forward to getting back into the habit of blogging.

We had a great Christmas celebration with our whole family on Christmas Eve. Michael and Bonnie were out visiting. Since we don’t know how often we’ll be able to have our whole family together during the upcoming years we just enjoyed being together that evening.

Of course, the biggest change to our lives that happened over the break was the arrival of Chloe. After three weeks of early labor (there were some pretty intense contractions) she arrived on December 30 after only 5 hours of labor. God’s timing is perfect and we arrived at the birth center with just a few minutes to spare. I’m very grateful we made it in time as I wasn’t too keen on the idea of having a baby in our van on the side of the freeway.

The boys have loved getting to know their little sister. They are working on learning their pronouns though. Poor little Chloe is referred to as a “he” quite often.

They love to hold her…as long as she isn’t crying. Carter makes sure that she always has plenty of blankets. It’s so precious.

One of my (Carrie’s) favorite Christmas gifts this year was a smiley face pancake pan. It makes for a fun breakfast!

The boys love picking a smiley face and then eating it.

Don’t you think that pancake is so cute winking?

As for me (Melinda), I’ve been getting used to having a newborn around. It’s hard to believe our little girl is already two and a half months old! She is a delight to have around, and, for the most part, she is a happy little girl. Her smile lights up her entire face.

I’ve also been enjoying plenty of time reading since the beginning of the new year. I typically spend a lot of time reading at the beginning of the year, and then, my reading speed tapers off in the following months. Anyway, I’ve already enjoyed several good books this year.

We (finally!) started a Wholesome Womanhood Pinterest account. So far we have boards to share some of our favorite posts on a variety of different topics such as singleness, mothering and marriage. We have a board with our favorite recipes. These are recipes we’ve tried and our families enjoyed…tried and true. And finally we have a board for each of us to share the books that we’re reading throughout 2013.

We’re looking forward to what God has in store for our blog in the upcoming year. We have lots of ideas of topics we want to write on. And, of course, we’re looking forward to continuing the relationships we’ve built with other bloggers.