Merry Christmas

We want to wish all our family and friends a very merry Christmas! Unfortunately in the middle of our crazy busy December I came down with a horrible sickness. The doctor never determined what it was, but I cant remember the last time I was so sick. It took me out for about a week and a half so I had to let go of doing some of our Christmas traditions this year. One of them was our Christmas cards. It is one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season to be able to keep in touch with friends and family that we don't get to see regularly. So, my hope is that this can be our "Christmas card" this year. I pray that you all have had a wonderful Christmas season and are now enjoying time with family celebrating the birth of our savior. Not sure if it is from being sick, but I have been reminded and moved to tears this season by thinking of what all Mary, Joseph, and Jesus went through in the birth of Jesus. I know when hardships come my way I throw a pity party. I am extremely thankful for Mary's response to the angel "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."Luke 1:38 and that Jesus out of his great love for us would go through birth, life, and death here on earth to save us. Praise God and what a joyful reason to celebrate Christmas! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Dunham Family!!!

 This December has also been full of amazing blessings and answered prayers. At the beginning of the month Dave was offered a position in his company that will allow him to work remotely so we are able to move back to California close to family. We have been so blessed here in Texas, made wonderful friends, had 3 kids, and 2 kids started school with wonderful teachers. We will greatly miss our friends here and the relationships we have made, but we are extremely excited to be close to family, be apart of our nephews' and niece's lives, and live in the snow! Right now we are visiting family for Christmas and looking at houses. We will be moving February 1st! Since Dave will be able to work from home we will get to enjoy so much more time with him without the hour long commutes he has had to endure.
 As we were in the car just buckled to set out on our drive for California Dave got an email from the Board of Engineers letting him know he passed his CA Seismic test! He is now a professional licensed engineer! I am so excited for Dave and so extremely proud of him.
 2014 is looking to be quite an exciting year full of changes; new state to live in, new house, new position for Dave, new school for the kids, new church, and more time with family. God is so good, has answered so many prayers, has provided and continues to provide abundantly for our family. Praise God and Merry Christmas!

Past 2 Months

Lots has happened since I blogged last, almost 2 months ago! Sorry for the delay. I think the easiest way to touch on everything is to post pictures and explain. Hope you enjoy!

Boaz loves riding his car all over the house. For the longest time Davey or Cassia would push him around, but after Bo got his foot run over many times he learned to enjoy doing it on his own.

The weather has finally cooled off and we celebrated by having a picnic lunch enjoying the time outside.

Who knew cleaning the couches could be so fun. They took turns jumping off the lounge chair and crashing into the cushions. Even Bo took a turn jumping on the cushions.

Sweet girls getting ready for church.

At the end of August our church closed its doors. We had been praying for awhile what God's direction for the church was. We were thankful to know God's plan, but sad to see it end. After trying a handful of different churches we have found a new church home that we all enjoy. Even Elah has been doing good in the nursery.

Love that Elah wakes up with a big smile to see me!

Davey lost his first tooth!

Cassia has learned to ride her bike with no training wheels! Dave had her start on Davey's old bike since it is smaller than her purple bike. Even though she was a little scared, she did a great job and has moved up to riding her purple bike.

Near the end of October we made it out to the farm to go through the huge corn maze shaped like Texas. If you found all 12 town signs in the maze you got a free drink. After almost 2 hours of walking we had found 10 and called it quits. 

Family picture in the wild flowers

Love putting pink on Elah, makes her blue eyes stand out. Hoping  they stay blue!

Elah a bee, Boaz a monkey, Abigail a ladybug, Davey a cowboy, and Cassia a butterfly.

On Halloween Davey and Cassia got to dress up for school as long as they were a book character and brought the book to school. Davey was Woody from Toy Story and Cassia was the Hungry Caterpillar when he turns into a butterfly. Well, Abby wanted to get her costume on too. So she was a ladybug all day long. When we walked to pick Davey and Cassia up from school she flapped her arms and jumped to fly all the way to school. We opted to not go trick-or-treating and had a fun night at our friends' house carving/painting pumpkins and playing in the backyard. 

Davey carved his own pumpkin all by himself.

 After almost 4 years of living in Texas we finally made it out to our first Longhorns Game! We were up as high as you could go and had a great view of the game, which we won!

After refusing anything plastic (toys, pacifier, bottle) for the first 4 months of her life Elah is starting to really enjoy her Sofie the Giraffe and pacifiers. Next up to try is the bottle!

At 4 months old Elah has learned to roll over! Her first time was for my mom when I was volunteering at the school. It took all day before I got to see her do it and then it took a couple of weeks before I got pictures. She rolls back to tummy then gets so frustrated with being on her tummy. Looking forward to when she will be able to roll tummy to back.

School's Started

 We have just completed our second week of school and everyone seems to be adjusting well to the school routine. I was very nervous about how we would get to school on time when day to day I didn't know if Elah would be needing to nurse when it was time to go. It has all been working out great and Elah has only screamed once coming home from school because she was ready to eat. We are definitely a sight to see walking to and from school. I carry Elah on me in my wrap, push Bo and Abby in our double stroller and then Davey and Cassia normally run ahead excitedly.

First Day of School!
 I cried seeing how big they both look and are.

 Davey is enjoying 1st grade. On the first day of school he was excited to tell me that his "desk has a cubby underneath it!" It is his first time having a real desk. The first week of school Davey was so proud that he was the "Brilliant Brave," which is their student of the week. He and a friend of his choice got to have lunch on the stage. Instead of picking one of his best friends he picked a new girl in his class because she hadn't ever gotten to eat on the stage. Davey has been waking up at 6:30 on his own the past few days. It turned out to be a good thing yesterday. I accidentally slept in after it being a hard night with Elah. When I came out of my room I found Davey in the kitchen dressed and shoes on, half way done making his lunch. He proceeded to make his whole lunch while I got breakfast ready. 

 Cassia absolutely loves being in kindergarten. We are all excited that she has the same teacher Davey had last year. Her favorite part of school right now is art class. She loves getting to paint and do crafts. The first day of school she came home telling me she has a best friend. It turns out it is a boy. The end of the first week of school I got a chance to briefly talk to Cassia's teacher, who told me she is doing great in school and that she has become great friends with this boy and that they hold hands all the time. Honestly, this kind of freaked me out a bit. I knew it was a very innocent thing, but still felt like we needed to talk about it. Last night Cassia and I went out to ice cream and I asked her why she liked to hold this boy's hand. She said she didn't know, but she knew why he likes to hold her hand, "because his hands are always cold and mine are warm". I love how innocent she still is, but can see my baby girl isn't so much of a baby anymore. Dave just thinks it is time to buy a shotgun. 

Nap Time!
 I have found Boaz sleeping perpendicular in his bed with his feet on the wall, on the floor, and even in Davey's bed wearing Davey's baseball hat.

 I have been enjoying my mornings with the 3 younger kiddos. We move a little slower and I don't push to do lots of chores. We just enjoy our time and do the chores together. Boaz loves to help wipe down the table with me and even enjoys scrubbing the toilet. Abigail has really taken to being the oldest in the mornings. She sits with Boaz eating his breakfast while I nurse Elah. Then Abby plays with Elah while I get Boaz dressed. She brings me my nursing pillow when it is time to feed Elah. She tells me she will be brave and get it from my room without the light on, since she can't reach the light switch.

Helping mommy make biscuits.

My fairy princess Abby making biscuits.

Boaz not only got flour on his nose, but all over his shorts too!

Play time with Elah!

 Elah had her 2 month well check this last Thursday. She is 11 lbs 7oz and 23 inches long, both being in the 50th-75th percentile. The bad news is the Dr. suspects she has thrush, so we both need to be on medicine to get it all cleared up. Other than that she is perfectly healthy, growing great, and so adorable!

Daddy reading a bedtime story to his girls.

Labor Day weekend we decided to sight see Austin. Here we are enjoying swimming in a natural spring pool.

Me and my little Elah at the springs. The water was too cold for her to get in.

Elah Grace Dunham

 Well, it has been a little over 6 weeks since the birth of our little girl. Elah Grace Dunham was born on July 2nd. She weighed 8lbs 8oz and was 20 inches long. Elah and Abigail are tied for our heaviest baby and Elah is also our shortest baby. The birth went smoothly resulting in my 4th successful VBAC!

I got to hold Elah right after she was born. You can kind of see she came out pretty purple.

One of my absolute favorite feelings is that of a newborn laying on my chest.

With Elah being our heaviest and shortest she was born with the cute baby rolls!

The kids getting to meet Elah for the first time. Boaz isn't pictured because he was a little more intrigued with the buttons on my bed.

Boaz getting to hold Elah. Can you  just see he is bursting excitement? 

All the kids (and Nana and Grandpa) admiring their baby sister.

 I am so thankful for the help we got from both our parents and I know the kids had so much fun with their grandparents. My biggest fear in the hospital after having Elah was that I wouldn't get to snuggle and enjoy her as much as I did with the other kids because I would need to care for the other kids as well. But thanks to all the help from our moms I had almost a whole month to recover, rest, and snuggle with Elah! Unfortunately our visitors had to go back home to California, but we are now enjoying getting into a routine of 5 kiddos and I am loving it. Some days and nights are better than others, and even though I am a little sleep deprived I truly enjoy getting to spend all day with all my kids. They bring me so much joy!

This is what Elah and I did for the first month of her life!

 Elah is the easiest baby. She has been a great eater/nurser since she was born, and she is a wonderful sleeper. I remember with Boaz I prayed for him to be a good nurser after all the struggles we had with Abigail, but he was a horrible sleeper. He wouldn't go to bed till very late at night and would be up many times to nurse. I remember someone telling me maybe I should have prayed for him to be a good nurser and a good sleeper. So this time around I did pray for Elah to eat and sleep well, and praise God she does!

Taking a nap in the playroom while the rest of us play.

Elah at 6 weeks old is just starting to give real smiles. Dave is better at getting her to smile than I am.

 Our next challenge is going to be getting to school on time. Davey and Cassia have been counting down the days till school starts, only 10 more days. Cassia is super excited to go to kindergarten, and Davey is just as excited to start 1st grade. Last weekend we did our school shopping, next week we find out who their teachers are and get to go to their classrooms, then the following Monday is the first day of school.

Boaz helping Daddy fix the Jimmy.

Not sure if you can see, Bo has a wrench he is "using" on the lug nuts.

Boaz loved getting to see under the Jimmy.

Today I had all the kids helping me with different recipes  Davey did a great job cutting up the veggies to go with the dip he made.

May Fun

 May was a fun month with lots going on and things ending. Davey's T-ball season ended. Unfortunately, I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked. Getting the kids out the door on time was hard enough and I never remembered to bring the camera. Thanks to our good friends we got a couple pictures. Davey had a great season and it was neat to see he him improve so much. By the end of the season he was able to hit the ball into the outfield and got a handful of outs playing first base and pitcher. Many hits go straight to the pitcher position to then throw to first for an out. 

Davey and Hunter having fun in the dugout.

Cassia and Judah (Hunter's brother) watching the game. One of the few times she actually sat and watched  instead of running around playing.

Davey getting his trophy at closing ceremonies.

 For Mother's Day we went to a local state park and enjoyed hiking some trails. It was beautiful as we walked to some waterfalls and through some beautiful wildflowers. A wonderful day enjoying time as a family. I definitely felt so blessed and special to be a mother to 4 sweet kiddos and a little girl on the way.

 Speaking of that little girl on the way, we finally decided on a name. She will be named Elah Grace Dunham. Elah is pronounced just like Ella. It is from the Bible and is the valley where the story of David and Goliath takes place. The Brook of Elah is where David finds the 5 stones to fight. The Valley of Elah is where David trusts God to give him the ability to defeat the giant Goliath. 

A family picture from our hike. Here is a full belly shot to see little Elah is growing big.

Me and my sweet kiddos hiking for Mother's Day.

Another fun family picture!

 On May 22nd Dave and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. To celebrate we decided to take a mini family vacation at the beach over Memorial Day weekend. We stayed just between Port Aransas and Corpus Christi. We enjoyed one day in Port Aransas at the beach. Davey and Cassia enjoyed getting about waist deep, splashing and jumping in the waves. Abigail loved jumping through the water as it flowed up onto the beach and running from it. She would squeak and squeal with delight. Poor Boaz was not a fan. Dave and I both carried him as we enjoyed the water, but the minute his toes touched the water he would whimper and cry. However, he did really enjoy digging in the sand and playing with the sand toys.
 We enjoyed the next day in Corpus Christi at the USS Lexington. It is an aircraft carrier from World War II that has been turned into a museum. It was very interesting with planes on top and lots to see on the different decks. We were only able to see maybe half of the ship as it was a lot of walking and steep stairs for little Bo and Abby, and this pregnant mom too. That night Abby was complaining her legs hurt. Poor little girl, my body was so sore from all the walking I can only imagine how sore her's was as she walked the whole way as well. Made me realize what great kiddos we have. Not one of them complained of being tired or hot and little Boaz was starting to get crabby from being hungry, but still demanded to climb the stairs all by himself.

The family in front of the USS Lexington.

The kids enjoyed climbing all over the artillery.

Davey was able to move the gun up and down.

Cassia couldn't move it on her own, but still loved sitting up there.

On the top deck were lots of planes to enjoy.

Sitting in the plane and pushing buttons. Look at all that hair!

The last day of May was also Davey's last day of kindergarten. I still can't believe that his whole first year of school has already gone by. It has been a great year and Davey has learned so much. He is excited to start summer. I told him we would be doing some school work during summer and doing the summer reading program at the library. When we got home from school he was anxious to start doing some school work right away. 

Davey with his friends, Ryan and Jaydon.

Davey with his teacher Ms. Hewitt. We had such a great year and were so blessed with her as his teacher.