The Schmidgalls

Four years ago Joel and I made an “unconditional commitment to an imperfect person.” I am definitely an imperfect person…yet his commitment to caring for me seems to grow stronger all the time. With a little attention grabber in our home we have to be very intentional about remaining focused on one another. I am feeling especially thankful for all the little things that Joel does.

He brings me a glass of ice water to bed every single night.

Joel always comes to kiss me when he walks in the door. Even with a little girl squealing with excitement to see him, he comes to kiss me.

He tells me I pretty, gorgeous, beautiful…seriously, he tells me a lot.

Joel cleans up dinner.

He plays with Ella. Like, REALLY plays, with his entire attention focused on her. (This would seem like it is about her but it really does serve me when she is entertained!)

He makes people laugh. Our daughter, our family members, our friends, our church…and, yes, me. That is an special quality, the ability to make people laugh. He is so good at it that when I am actually able to make him laugh (a real, out loud, deep laugh) I relish it for days!

He listens to me. Anyone close to me knows that this is true service. I tend to process things by letting them blah, blah, blah out of my mouth. He listens…and listens…sometimes nods…and listens some more.

Joel tells me almost every day how important I am to him and how thankful he is for our Ellie and me.

Joel is so supportive of me. I over-commit and over-promise and somehow Joel believes I can do it all. He encourages me, makes a way for me, and supports all my crazy passions.

Babe, thanks for the every day! I love you!

Ella has learned the chase game. She has also realized that my music skillz are not just bad…they’re hilarious! Check out the video…

Big news! Ellie went pee-pee in the potty!

Saturday morning the poor girl had actually fallen down and split her lip. There was blood everywhere so I had removed her pajamas and diaper. Before I could get her re-dressed she started waving “stinky” to me. (When she poops in her diaper, she waves her finger in front of her nose to say “stinky!”) Oh no! I quickly picked her up and ran her over to her little potty chair. I didn’t want to clean up a mess! We read a book together…and she went potty! I made a HUGE deal and gave her an M&M to celebrate. After photo and video footage, we flushed it down the toilet and waved bye-bye together. Ah, mommy memories.

I am not really ready to launch into official potty training mode but I am still proud of this small step.

I actually have one photo with the actual “deposit” but since she isn’t dressed you just get an action shot. (Her potty chair was the same one used by her cousins. They seem to be doing pretty well with it all so I take that as good luck. )

Checking out the goods (no need to get so close!)

This about knocked my socks off! So, it is clear now who Ellie looks like…her Auntie Lora! Joel’s mom has been saying for a while that Ellie looks like Lora did when she was little. But this just proves it! Wow! Did Ellie get any of my genes or is she all Schmidgall?

My friend Allison is a mama!

Wow, this did NOT come easy. Poor girl spent all of 2007 on a roller coaster of pregnancy attempts - diagnosis, treatment options, injections, tears, prayers….only to be told she needed to put things on hold for a few months. And, miracle of miracles…she got pregnant naturally! The pregnancy was met with fear and all sorts of scary episodes. As if she wasn’t nervous enough, she was told during a routing sonogram that the umbilical cord had only one artery instead of two. Mercy!

Things seemed to be moving along normally…until she felt a drop in fetal movements and rushed to the doctor. Isaac Ross was born on August 1st at exactly 34 weeks. And he is doing GREAT. Praise God and HUGE sigh of relief!

Genesis 17:19, 18:14 - God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac…Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

I went to visit the little man in the NICU last week and he is adorable!

Look he even gave me a smile!

Doesn’t he look like such a boy here? Guys always stretch like that.

Mommy and Isaac

The happy family! Allison was my roommate before I got married. She existed on a diet of Doritos, Diet Pepsi, and trail mix…and still weighed nothing. Chad was actually a friend of mine from college (go Westmont!). I am happy to say that I introduced these lovebirds…their love and family blossomed from e-mail. Welcome to our generation. Love you guys!

I need to be better about posting the cute things Ellie does every day. Poor thing got more of her mama’s temperament. Her daddy has a much more laid-back personality. Ella displays lots of emotion and…ummm…passion? But she is also a very generous and loving little girl.

Her favorite game is the kiss game. She kisses mommy, kisses daddy, and then wants us to kiss each other. Then she points to anyone standing close and wants to kiss them too. (Awkward when we are around strangers.) She puckers her little lips and says “mmmmmmmm” leading into the kiss. It is funny when someone tries to give her their cheek. She will keep puckering and lean around to the front. “I kiss on the LIPS people!”

Generosity is amusing at 18 months. Ella will share everything…but take it back right as you reach for it. And her fun little trick is “fake-feeding” animals! For example, if a dog comes over, she will pretend to pick up a treat and, holding her little fingers together, hold the pretend snack out to the poor animal! I feel bad for the pets but appreciate her imagination and ability to pretend already!

When Ellie gets frustrated or worked up about something, I will often say, “Use words baby. Tell Mama what you need.” She immediately pulls herself together and says “Haaaaaaaalp” (Help) or “Mo-wa” (More). It is so cute to watch her learn to process her emotions!

She is really starting to take off with her words. She often calls Joel and I “Daddeeee” (instead of Dada) and “Mommeeee” (instead of Mama or Na-na). Recently, we were driving somewhere and I asked her, “El, what do doggies say?” She replied “Huh-huh!” (woof-woof). I don’t know why I asked it but I said, “What does Mommy say?” She replied without a beat, “Shhhh, shhh, shhh!” I was just glad she didn’t say “No touch!” or “Time out!”

Speaking of time outs, the little princess has seen quite a few time-outs recently…for pulling hair. Sighhhhhhhhhh. My little precious has realized that whenever she thinks one of her older friends is being a little too aggressive, one yank of their hair will do the trick. Her poor friend Violet is unfortunate to have a wild and attractive mane of hair…for now anyway.

One word she is determined to learn will certainly bring embarrassing moments into my future. Whenever I changer her diaper these days, she starts pointing ‘down there’ saying, “Dat? Dat?” (What’s that?). She will NOT let me change the subject or distract her until I answer. In fact, since it is usually still stinky down there, I have to fight not to say, “No touch!” Oy!

Another favorite word of hers is “boo-boo.” She uses her time in the carseat to examine every wound on her knee, ankle, arm and shout “bo-bo! bo-bo!” Joel was clever to teach her to kiss her own boo-boos. So, I often hear her shout “bo-bo!” and then give herself a smack, “Mmmmwah!”

How did we entertain ourselves before she came along?

We are home from Colorado. The wedding was beautiful. There were so many special touches. We were so glad to be part of the day!

It was a family affair! Joel did the ceremony and Ellie and I were in the wedding party. (I know, I know…I have one good lookin’ husband!)

Wow, that background looks fake! That is just real life Colorado! (My mom did another amazing job with the flowers!)

Ellie wants kisses from the bride

Sister, sister!

Can’t you tell how much she loooved being a flower girl?

“Help me, pleeeease!”

She warmed up once we stopped trying to stuff her in wagons with boys! My favorite moment was when Ella walked down the aisle holding her basket and stopped in front of Joel. He whispered, “Drop your flower petals Ella!” So she turned her entire basket upside down and dumped them all in one big pile!

“Oh, that is not what you meant?”

What a special time with my cousins! Sarah, Amy (sis), Rachel, Nina

Happy Honeymoon Rachel and Jesse!