Happy Early Halloween from The Stout Family!

Happy Halloween from Bruce of Swamp People, Humpty Dumpty (pre-fall from the wall of course), and the prettiest little Lady Love Bug that ever has been!

A Video of Some Dear Friends Of Mine

Back in high school, I met Camille. She was one of the youth pastors at my church. Over time, she has become so much more than that. We don't talk often, but I sure do love catching up with her and am so thankful for all the love and encouragement she has shown me over the last 15 years! I can't believe it has seriously been that long, but it has! Please check out their blog and video (link at the bottom), and if you feel led, give to the sweet precious family. They want to adopt domestically and that costs money. I know that they would also appreciate all the prayers you could lift up for Camille, Aaron, Levi, Bella, and baby Slaten. 

Actually, this is very close to my heart seeing as how sometime after baby Olivia arrives and we have adjusted we would like to begin the journey to domestic adoption. So I guess I just let that out for every one to know. Don't worry though. We will wait until we have adjusted to live with a new baby before anything else happens on the Stout adoption front. 

Please pray for and donate if possible to my sweet friends and thanks for watching/reading!

http://slatenadoption.blogspot.com/2012/10/piece-by-piece.html

Macon trip

On Saturday, we packed up the car for a day trip to Macon.

We visited with my grandparents for a little bit and then headed off to lunch, some shopping, and some fun times on the playground. Also, my youngest sister is pregnant. She and Lee will be having a little girl at the end of February. So here are some fun pictures from our trip.

 Ruthie showing off her climbing skills...

 and her sliding skills. Hannah Leigh was very worried about Ruthie sliding alone, but Ruthie a pro at sliding!

  Pregnant Sister picture- I'm not sure it's fair that I look this big and Hannah Leigh is so tiny. When I was 21 weeks I did NOT look that small. So even in our pregnantness she is still as skinny as always! ha

 Then after a wardrobe change due to a dirty diaper, we went to swing for a bit.

 swinging with Gigi and Aunt Hannah Leigh

 Hannah Leigh preparing to swing her pregnant self

 I joined in- I am very pregnant huh?

 Then more sliding! It is Ruthie's favorite!

 and more climbing

 As you can see Ruthie also tried eating some dirt. 

 Hannah Leigh decided to slide with Ruthie

 All the women

 Kisses!

 As I said we went shopping. Last year I bought the 2 dresses on the left for Ruthie and the other day I bought Olivia a matching dress to wear for Christmas. Now to decide which dress Ruthie will wear.

 Gigi bought the girls Christmas pjs. Ruthie's has a gingerbread woman and Olivia's has Santa. I can't wait to see them matching!

We also stopped by to visit with my step mom at the hospital where she works. She gave the girls some pjs and Ruthie a cute Halloween stuffed toy. Chris also gave us this, a picture from our first dance with the words to the song we danced to written around the picture. It is such a thoughtful and beautiful present. We love it!

It was a great trip even if it was short. It was great to see my mom and enjoy some time with my sister while we are both pregnant.

Ruthie turns 21 Months Old and I am 33 weeks Pregnant

This month Ruthie turned 21 months old on the 18th. 

As you can see above she was very tired on her birthday. I guess moving to the new toddler bed did it to her!

 Ruthie loves building and stacking her animals on top of her towers. She now knows the sounds that a dog, cat, cow, and lion say as well as can pick out a turtle, giraffe, elephant, and duck from a book or group of animals. It is so fun!

 Again she is having a hard time staying awake b/c of her new found freedom of sleeping in her toddler bed.

 Eating her first Krystal Hamburger

 Sliding on the big slide with Maggie

 Enjoying waiting for the dr. to call us back to hear sweet Olivia's heart beat!

 Still loving the jumperoo! 

 Trying on her Halloween costume- Little Lady Love Bug

 We were sitting in the living room while Ruthie went to the kitchen. She is usually just playing with the doors, but can't get them open b/c they are baby proofed. However, this time one of her parents left the door to the dish washer open a little. We heard utensils falling and banging going on. Here is what we found!

 The Pigtales

Finally, The Toddler Bed! Ruthie has done a great job adjusting! Only the first night did she fight us. She was standing at the door banging until she finally fell asleep. We are on night # 6 and have had no real trouble since that first night. She jumps in her bed and makes sure to bring her blanket and bear. She sleeps until about 6 and then plays for 10 to 20 minutes until she is ready to have some food and drink as well as a diaper change. I think we are all feeling much better with the extra sleep. 

Ruthie has moved to an 8pm bedtime and of course the toddler bed! 

Ruthie loves making animal sounds and picking out animals from a group on a page or of her little plastic animals. She can also pick out some of her favorite Sesame Street characters in her books.

Ruthie knows how to say a few more words: more, shoes, banana, and nose.

Ruthie can point to her nose, mouth, ears, eyes, head, tummy, and belly button. She if you ask her where her toes are she will wiggle them and the same for her fingers. It is incredibly cute. We will have to try to get that on video soon!

Ruthie still enjoys playing with blocks, balls, crayons, and really any other items that are against the rules such as batteries and tools. We don't let her play with dangerous things, but she sure does like trying.

She has become even more adventurous. She will climb to the highest slide on the playground and slide down all the way without help and she still really loves swinging. She also loves collecting things. Anything really, rocks, pinecones, batteries, sticks. You name it, she collects it. 

Ruthie really loves a new show called Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. It is so great and I really think she learns a lot from it!

We are just so happy being her momma and daddy. She is just a joy to watch grow and learn. She may be adventurous and have to spend some time in time out due to climbing on the back of the couch, on the end table, on the coffee table, or just getting into the dogs' water and food, but she is just so much fun! She can make friends where ever she goes and is always getting compliments on her behavior and of course her cuteness! We know she will be a wonderful big sister in just a few short weeks!

Which brings us to now: 33 weeks!

Olivia will be here sooner than I think we can even imagine! I have spent the last 28 hrs having the worst indigestion of my life. I know that soon I will no longer have indigestion or any other kind of pregnancy issues, but rather a little pain, but a very sweet baby to show for all of this! We are so excited to meet our sweet baby girl. More in a few days about a trip to Macon this weekend and some cute stuff we have gotten for the girls...

Becoming a Big Girl

Pigtails: Ruthie's hair is long enough for pigtails and ponytails. Only big girls wear pigtails and ponytails, right? We plan to get her hair cut eventually, but at the moment we are going to enjoy the fun of being able to fix Ruthie's hair in cute pigtails!

Big Girl Bed: We are transitioning Ruthie to a big girl bed. We are going to eventually put the queen mattress and box spring in Ruthie's room so Olivia will have a crib to sleep in. So we decided to start the transition by taking off the front rail of her crib. Tonight was the first night and to tell you the truth we don't even know if she is sleeping in her bed or on her floor, but she is quiet and hopefully will stay asleep and sleep through the night! We will see...

Also notice her cheesing smile in the last picture, that is her new face she gives me when I ask her to smile for a picture. I have no idea where she got that from.

Onto other things, I did these paintings for our kitchen. We finally hung them! I am thinking of repainting Be Merry in blue. Any opinions out there? I do really like them though and am thinking of making a few more to sale.

Finally, I am just ready for Olivia to get here. I have had a few days of Braxton Hicks. Also, Olivia is very active and causes me to wake A LOT at night most nights. I am grateful that we can get pregnant so easily. It is truly a blessing, I am just at that point in the pregnancy where I am very uncomfortable. I am really just ready to hold this sweet baby too! less than 8 weeks to her due date so I can do this! I promise it isn't really as bad a this picture shows though...

 a belly pic: I am sitting so I look bigger, but I am also very big at this pt in time!

Our church is blessing us with a baby shower and that will be Nov 4th and we are going to do maternity pics on Oct 26th. Olivia just has to wait until after the 4th!

Clothes are washed, and window treatments are hung so she can really come when she wants, but it would be best for her to bake just a few more weeks!