Happy 1st Birthday Hope!

Today is Hope's 1st Birthday! I can't believe how fast the year has gone. Last year at this time I was checking into the hospital to have a C-Section because my blood pressure was way too high and then at 10:14am Hope Marie Merkel was born. She was 7lbs 1oz and now she is 19 1/2lbs. She spent one week in the NICU (which seemed like a month) and now she is a healthy little girl roaming around the house and getting into everything. She isn't walking yet, but that is prefectly fine with me! She is a little cuddler. She loves to be loved and she is definetly a princess. She knows how to get your attention too, She screams and then when you look at her she just smiles and puts her little hand next to her cheek, and then you can't help but smile at her. We are so very blessed!

Yesterday we had a little party for her. My stepmom made an absolutely beautiful doll cake. Milk and egg free of course! Although nervous mom here had the Epi-Pen in her hand just in case. Hope loved the cake. Of course, she didn't know what to do with it at first, but once we gave her a lick she wanted more. Here is a little slide show of the party. By the way- Isaiah liked "present time" way more than Hope. She did however like the wrapping paper.

Slideshow of Hope's Birthday Party

Allegic Reactions

So My beautiful baby girl had her second allergic reaction this week. Everyone keeps asking me "what does it look like, what do we look for?", So I took a picture of it with my phone. Poor girl, she didn't even see it coming. Isaiah had been eating a sandwich which he was dipping in ranch dressing, well I guess he didn't clean his hands well enough. He walked up to her and rubbed her cheek and told her, "Hope you are soooo cute!" Poor guy he was just trying to be nice. I wish kids were born knowing what food had eggs and milk in it. We are still on a teaching process. I am just thankful that the EpiPen didn't have to be used. However, She was zonked out the rest of the day from Benadryl! I just pray everyday that she grow out of this. I can't imagine what would have happened had she actually ingested it! AHHHH! Oh and she is also allergic to mango.....along with Milk, Eggs, and Kiwi. The list just keeps growing!
See those horrible red spots with hives (growing by the second) inside them. And her poor cheek just swelled up!
So one afternoon things in the house got real quiet....this is how I found Hope. Isaiah said, "Mom, I just wanted her to play with me, so I got her and put her on my bed and gave her toys....I think she likes it....She's fine Mom!" I just don't know how she didn't scream when he picked her up, she always screams!!!!
Isaiah put all his animals downstairs and sat in the middle of them and said, "Mom, this is my family...would you like to meet them." So cute! I just love the things he says.

Swimming

The kids went swimming in the little wading pool today! They absolutely had a blast. Here are a few pictures!

I don't know how to rotate the picture, so you'll just have to tilt your head to the side! So sorry!
She's much happier in the pool than on the water playmat!
Isaiah is so excited because Hope is starting to play with him now!
Can you tell she is teething!!! Everything goes in the mouth!
Summer is flying by and the kids are getting so big! I just thought I would post these pictures before I forgot! Isaiah is being extra lovey this week. He has been walking around the house giving everyone hugs and kissing Hope's owies! Hope is walking around when we hold just one of her hands now. She'll be off and running before we know it. Also we found out she is allergic to Kiwi. So now we have an egg allergic, milk allergic, raspberry allergic, and kiwi allergic daughter! Any advice???

Summer Fun

I bought the kids a water playmat for the backyard and we took it out this weekend for the first time. Isaiah absolutely loved it. Hope not so much...she put one foot in and screamed. I think the whole block heard her. Aparently she likes the toasty bathwater much better! Isaiah probably would have played in there all night except we started to flood Grammy's lawn, so I thought we should probably turn it off. So much for us obeying the watering guidelines (Yes, we have watering guidelines here in the desert...drought land.) I don't think mom will have to water her lawn for the next month or at least till we bust out the playmat again.

Ryan held her up in the air and she put her hands way up and smiled, but that was ya know the milisecond before the flash went off! They never do the cute stuff again once you bring out the camera.
Here is my mom and Isaiah watching the fireworks. My brother was kind enough to save some fireworks since I didn't get to see them on the 4th. Although it was his birthday, so I don't think he saved them just for me, but it's nice to think that. They were all legal of course..hehehehe!
Yesterday, Isaiah hit his chin on the coffee table. I just couldn't resist taking a picture of his little face. But it's all better now...after Lightening Mcqueen ice pack and SpiderMan bandaids of course! What happen to just needing "mama kisses." He is growing up too fast.

The 4th of July

We had an absolutely fantastic fourth of July. We took the kids to my Aunt's house. I worked the night before, so I woke up early and we went to the BBQ for a few hours and then I went back to work. I missed out on the fireworks, but thanks to my awesome photographer (aka Husband) he captured the moment for me. Isaiah was so excited to swim. Uncle Mark took him into the pool since Daddy still can't swim yet till he gets his stitches out and mommy didn't swim because she had to work. Isaiah was extremely proud of himself because he had his little floaty on and he could "swim by myself."

Love those chubby cheeks!
"Life is so much better with SpiderMan mom!"
There go his hands...He flaps them like a little bird when he gets excited! We love it! I think he liked the fireworks just a little!
I love the expressions on his face....wish I could have been there to see them!
The kids had so much fun! Isaiah couldn't stop talking about all the colors the fireworks turned. Oh and by the way....never seen so many babies born on the Fourth! They were making fireworks themselves. I am convinced that those abstinence billboards were created by L&D nurses!!!! J/K

Busy, Busy

The Merkel house has been very busy this week! Ryan had knee surgery on Friday. He had a BIG piece of cartiledge removed that had broken off his knee when we had our car accident in April. Did I mention it was BIG???? But the doctor said that it was a miracle because where the piece had come off, it was already healing itself. He said he had never seen anything like it before. Yes it was Miraculous...an answer to our prayers. Because if they had to repair that, he would have been out of work for weeks...Unpaid! God is so awesome! Here is Ryan two days after surgery, livin it up because everyone is waiting on him...and by everyone I mean Nurse Cari! What can I say, I kinda love the guy!


I was trying to get Hope to look at the camera, but she got so excited that she started laughing and looked away. Look at those super long eye lashes. She is now saying, "saiah." So she calls him all the time. She also said, "Meme" (my grandma), and "Mami" (for Grammy, my mom). She also stood up by herself last week, but hasn't done it again since, what a tease!

"What Mom, I am not touching anything!!!"

Isaiah feed his cousin Alex at Sunday dinner. He was so excited. All week he has been talking about it. He even said, "Mom, it's ok to have little babies in the house!" Soon enough he will find out how much he really likes it because I will be taking care of this little man when Mom goes back to work. I am so excited! I just love being an Aunt!

Mark's Graduation

Alexander Mark Ballard

Two posts in one day...I am just trying to catch up. I hope one day I will eventually get better at this. But anyway.....I have a precious new nephew. My brother Mark and his wife, Nicole, had their first baby. He was born on May 17th at 3:10pm, weighing 7lbs2oz. Less than 24 hours after he was born they found out that he had a few heart defects. So he underwent heart surgery on May 22nd. The surgery went great. He is doing awesome now. He went home after spending just five days in the Pediatric ICU. He has officially won himself a place at Aunt Cari's daycare! I am so in love with this little man. I love being an Aunt. My brother is an awesome dad and it is so exciting to officially be sharing parenting tips with him. Here are a few pics of him...They don't due him justice, you just have to see him for yourself.

Doin what he does best...Sleeping!
He looks just like my brother with Nicole's chin. The Ballard genes have a way of taking over!

Memorial Day weekend

So we had a great Memorial Day weekend with the Merkel fam. Ryan's brother Kenny and his wife, Julie, and Jackson came to visit. It was so awesome. We haven't seen Jackson in awhile and he has grown so much. We celebrated Jackson's first birthday and Uncle Ted's birthday with a big BBQ. At first I think Jackson was a little unsure about the cake, but then he started to REALLY like it. Uncle Ted was the master BBQer! On Memorial Day We went to Frontier for one final meal before they went back to OK. We were trying to find a table and Ryan said, "Geez eleven people, I remember when it was just a family of five." Oh how things change when you get married and have kids. We also took the kids to the duckpond at UNM so they could feed the ducks. I actually think the Merkel Boys had more fun "feeding" (aka. throwing bread at) the ducks and turtles. But Mama cat ended up winning the contest. We had such a great time. It's really cool to see all the little ones together. Isaiah makes sure to lead the pack! So here's some pictures from our weekend.

I think he liked the cake...Just a little
Jackson and Hope 'Chillin' in their strollers. Why can't we all have a little stroller?
Hope is in heaven in Aunt Cassie's arms!
Isaiah's arm is gettin a little tired after feeding those ducks all afternoon.
The three cousins....Isaiah at the top (of course) and Hope and Jackson crashed out again.