Los Elmers in the United States again!

Has it already been a year?!

2010-05-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

Hello blogger world. I fell off the face of the earth for the last year in the world of blogging. My last log in was May 24th! Today is the 2nd of May! What the heck?! OK. Truth be told my computer died a LONG time ago and while living in Nicaragua we decided to wait until coming back to the States to get one. So...this week or next I should be getting a new one. No excuse for not blogging!

Since my last post I'm sure I've done a whole lot of a lot of things but two most important things, 1) Have a beautiful son, Oliver Stephen Elmer born February 2, 2010. He's 3 months today! and 2) Move back to the USA! So now I will have to change my name on here! WOW.

Will post more very soon. I promise, I'll be back and have photos to share.

zero to twelve like that!

2009-05-23T21:54:00.001-07:00

One of my friends did something like this and I really liked the idea! It's Isaac's first year of things I enjoyed and didn't enjoy! Ha! Of course the entire year was amazing...I thought I would show you his progression:) I love this boy!

1st month

enjoyed: seeing a child that had been growing inside of me for 9 months in real life! a beautiful creation of God!
didn't enjoy: feeding every 2 1/2-3 hours and lack of sleep!

2nd month

enjoyed: watching Isaac smile for the first time! (6 weeks!) and him sleeping trough the night (8 hours) at 8 weeks. praise the Lord!
didn't enjoy: not being able to fit into my old clothes right away. ha! working out 5x a week again.

3rd month

enjoyed: more interaction with Isaac and him finally looking at me. VERY rewarding!
didn't enjoy: more spit ups!

4 month

enjoyed: his laughter. he laughed so much at this age and had such a great sense of humor! also his sleeping patters of 10 hours at night!
didn't enjoy: starting solids and burping. he was a hard burper!

5 month

enjoyed: watching him start to scoot around more. he really was anxious to start moving around on his own.
didn't enjoy: trying out veggies. he wasn't (and still isn't really..) a big fan.

6th month

enjoyed: watching him crawl around
didn't enjoy having to start baby-proofing everything!

7th month

enjoyed: watching his personality form. he was obsessed with textures. he loved taking his fingers through the sand. touching buttons...zippers, etc.
didn't enjoy: my son growing up so fast!

8th month

enjoyed: Isaac having the eating solids thing down.
didn't enjoy: teething!!

9th

enjoyed: taking him home for Christmas and spending time with family! Hearing his laughter through out the house
didn't enjoy: taking him back to Nicaragua :(

10th month

enjoyed: him sleeping a great solid 12 hours every night! watching him cruise and say "mama and dada"
didn't enjoy: him getting into everything!

11th month

enjoyed: his sweet personality and starting to be more cuddlier.
didn't enjoy: his strong will starting to show...

12 months!

enjoy: seeing him walk for the first time! him saying funny words like "doo-dah, dat, poo-yah.
haven't enjoyed: starting to throw food overboard! mama doesn't like that!

Isaac's First Birthday ( Cat in the Hat!)

2009-05-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

Pre-party shots...

It's amazing it's been an entire year ( and then some ) since our sweet baby boy was born. April 22 was his birthday and I am just now getting around to blogging about it! There are so many changes that take place in the first year it's so much fun! Looking back now...it all seems like a blur. I'd have to say that this past year has been the best of my entire life. Not only am I married to an incredible man of the Lord but I have a beautiful and healthy son. I'm so thankful once again for God giving us this most precious gift. My Mom was able to come down for a week and get ready for the big party. I don't know if you guys know this but one of my closest friends here had a son two weeks prior to Isaac being born. His name is Isaac ( eezak )if you were to say it in Spanish. We decided to throw theirs together because they were so close in age and had the same name! :)

My first cake!

Sweet Mama and Mom

My Dad and Mom

I love it!

the cat in the hat!

The last of the fun!

My 28th Birthday

2009-03-11T14:57:00.000-07:00

Well my birthday as most of you know was last month but I felt like I should have blogged about it. Mike and I left Isaac with a great friend over night and we went with 5 other couples to a place called Somoto Canyon that is really close to the Honduras border. It was an amazing birthday and Valentine weekend. There is one thing I think I should share though..

On the way home we had two friends in the car with Mike and I. Some of our best friends here ( Dane and Julie). The roads aren't overly amazing here but they are good in a lot of parts. Mike was driving and we got to a point where we needed to pass a semi-truck. Mike took a pretty big risk by passing this truck and there was another vehicle on the opposite side of the road. We all got pretty freaked out but made it OK. Not but 5 minutes later did we realize that the vehicle that was coming on the opposite side of the road was now behind us and on our tail! We got a little freaked out but not too bad. Everything seemed OK but we didn't know what this driver wanted and why he was now on our tail. Mike slowed down and we wanted to see if he just wanted to look at us and pass? We were pretty confused. So..Mike slowed down and the car came up along side of us and rolled down the passenger side window and...pulled out a GUN! Yes. They waved a pistol at us! The guy motioned for us to pull over ( pointing the gun). Needless to say we were all really freaked out!

So I said a prayer and asked for God's protection. I mean..wouldn't you? Well I did because we really needed His protection over us. He gave it to us too! Mike pulled over and told the guy who was irate that we were terribly sorry. We'd never been on that road before and we didn't realize how dangerous it was. He saw we were scared out of our minds and let us go! You just never know what can happen. Here or anywhere! It really made me think about my life though. I couldn't see Isaac soon enough! I was so thankful God did in fact protect us. The guy could have literally asked anything of us and we would have done it. It's happened before and will happen again. Praise God for safety! It was a weekend I'll never forget. Here are the pictures!

floating down the river

mike's turn :)

standing proud!

mike jumping off a cliff!

dane and julie plus mike and i at a gas station.

International Princess Project

2009-03-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

We know a family here in Nicaragua that is highly involved with the girl who started this project. It's amazing and beautiful work and these girls are able to support themselves with out being on the street selling their bodies. Please support them by buying a pair of awesome $30 PJ's.

So cool...

http://www.intlprincess.org

Cousin Time!

2009-01-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

When we were home for Christmas we were able to get together with a lot of our cousins from my Mom's side of the family. There were 8 of the 11 all together at one time. There were a few additions to the family this year. Isaac being the first, Oscar being the second, and Haden the third. The 3 boys had a great time together. We were a few days short of Bekah's son Eden showing up. I'll post pictures of him later!

Isaac's first Christmas

2009-01-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

I know I've been a terrible blogger. I don't know why either. There really is so much that goes on a daily basis here in Nicaragua. Here are a few shots of Isaac's first Christmas.

Isaac got the snowman PJ's from his Grammer. We got them in Ireland!

Isaac got this amazing wagon from my Grandmothers husband, Wayne. He hand made it!

Isaac and pals

2008-11-16T12:12:00.000-08:00

mom, i wish i was as old as mason ( he's 6 months older)

can we be friends forever?

ok guys, this is my leap frog table...and this is how it works ( isaac showing aliyah and mason)

i think mason wanted to take isaac home with him!

check out their faces!

grabbing for the camera

look, i'm on all 4's!

i like to read i guess.

i really love my exersaucer!

can you tell?

Las Perilas

2008-11-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

Last week Mike had some work to do at Gran Pacifica www.granpacifica.com and we needed to stay 2 nights at a condo. It was a blast! We invited our friends the Dalke's for a night and played games and made home made pizzas. It was amazing! Here are a few shots. Normally it's $250 a night for a two bedroom two bath condo and we got to stay free. Woo hoo! I liked that :)

a little more halloween

2008-11-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

Mike and I were invited to a Halloween party but were really stumped on what to be! being that we live in a tropical climate we didn't really want to dress in anything too hot! So my brilliant husband came up with the idea to be palm trees! We asked the guards in our neighborhood to cut down some palms for us. It cost all of 10 cords which equals to roughly 50 cents. Can't beat that right? By the way that was for the material to hold the other palms to the one branch. We had a lot of fun! The couple that is sitting in our hammock is Dane and Julie. They are getting married November 22 and they came as a Vegas wedding. Hilarious!

my little pumpkin

2008-11-16T11:15:00.000-08:00

Isaac and I had a little photo shoot for "Fall" and halloween. Here are a few shots :)

Ireland!

2008-11-16T10:34:00.000-08:00

As most of you know Mike and I recently went to Ireland with Mike's parents. It was one of the best weeks of my life! Most of you that read my blog know I've posted most of these on facebook ( and a lot more!) but here are just a few in case you're not on facebook! I could go back to Ireland in a heartbeat! We had such an awesome time. It was difficult to be away from Isaac but Mom and Dad knew he was safe with my Mom, my sister, and Step-Dad Sid. Thanks to my wonderful family for making it happen!

It's about time!

2008-11-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

OK, I know what you're thinking. It's about time I blogged again! I have no excuse really. So I'll just kind of pick up what you've missed out on over the last two months. Mike and I celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary on September 24th. woo hoo! It was wonderful here in Nicaragua but we were waiting to celebrate until we went to the States. My mom and sister were awesome to watch Isaac while Mike and I indulged on some EXCELLENT sushi! here are a few pictures of that romantic night.

he cracks me up!

mike twirling me.

this was in my mom's back yard.

mike working his magic with the sushi

at a cafe where i had a nice pumpkin spice latte. yeah, you can't get those in nicaragua!

4 months old today!

2008-08-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Today Isaac turned 4 months old! I can hardly believe it. He has been such an amazing blessing to Mike and I. I decided to do a little photo shoot in my living room. Isaac really didn't seem to mind at all!

my Mom makes me laugh...

hanging out on my favorite quilt my Great Grams made me!

check out my curled toes I get from my Daddio!

Mom, why you gotta prop me up here?!

A romantic night in Granada

2008-08-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

As a lot of you know my sister Jessica just left after being here in Nicaragua for 3 weeks. We all got spoiled by her, especially Isaac! One night we were able to get away over night which was the first time we left Isaac for more than just a few hours. Big deal for Mom here but when your son starts sleeping through the night at 8 weeks, that means at 14 weeks it was beyond time for us to have a slumber party of our own! Towards the end of our trip Mike bought this ( what I think is terrible! ) white statue of a bird. Have you ever seen the movie Amelie? If not, you should. In the movie the main character Amelie sends her dad's garden gnome on a tour around the world. Her friend takes pictures all over the place and this gnome is just in the background. I love it! So we decided to start doing that with this bird. Enjoy!

A super tasty drink. I couldn't even tell you the name of it but this is how we started our day! oh wait, we did get couple massages at a spa in Managua first. That was awesome!

I totally forgot my bathing suit and ended up buying this pink polka dot one for 180 cords in Granada which adds up to about $9. I couldn't complain. ok, it's ugly!

My goof ball husband. I just had to post it!

Silly pics. Yes, that is Mike's foot. ha ha!

Mike getting deep in his book

lounging around of course...

A beautiful display of fruit we had for breakfast. Along with the typical Nicaraguan breakfast of course!

I thought this was a cool book shelf!

This kitten was the hotel's pet. So sweet!

I mean, we really couldn't help ourselves!

This was actually fun :)

Can you find the bird?

a writing from my husband

2008-08-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

Currently there is a contest going on for the magazine "Real Simple" that asks readers to write the most important day in your life. It's a chance to win $3,000 and since my husband enjoys writing so much, he wrote what you're about to read below. I'm constantly amazed with how incredible he is. Thank you Lord, for the most amazing man in the world! Enjoy!

Catalyst

I can only relate so much to you because the weight of that moment fell full only upon us. And it fell profoundly, a catalyst we could only see later. I myself wouldn't realize it until we shared our memories the night before Isaac was born, when we looked back to the point where our lives, twisting around each other in spatial proximity, at last intersected.

That night, before the C-section, we stepped back in time through Central American journeys and romantic Spanish plazas, back to the night I returned from Mexico to lie under the stars next to her in the National Park, and even further back to the spark that arched between our joined hands in my car on the boulevard back from her cousin's. I had thought that was the beginning.

It certainly wasn't our first meeting when all this started, an anticlimactic suggestion by the same cousin that brought me to her midtown loft with a concrete floor and a bright red microfibre couch. The Roots rang through the thick and humid air and I noticed my foot keeping the rhythm; still I was only mystified and warily curious, as a person out of his element can sometimes be. She bought me a beer at Hand-in-Hand and gave me her phone number once she saw me ask for her friend's.

A couple of weeks later, at an indie rock hideaway on the second story of Smith's Olde Bar, I bought her a ticket to the show out of obligation. I hardly saw her at all as she rounded amongst friends while the local band shook the air from its stillness. I retreated to my coy posture in the back, but I could sense something deep within coming alive. Music was the sway of her hips in her walk, and hence the culture to her soul. Her allure was melodic. And as though drawn to some celestial phenomenon, I found myself, rather unexpectedly, a contemplative neophyte quietly observing the rites in that smoky establishment.

The set closed, then there was a narrow stairwell, then a grouping of tables and acquaintances surrounded by pool tables and concert posters. I sat at one end with several others, some I'd hardly met. She lounged directly opposite me, fully at ease in the company of friends, in this culture of esoteric melodies and kaleidoscope passions. She seemed at the time like poetry in a foreign language and I was still trying to learn to how to ask for directions.

So there we floated unengaged across the length of a table, she centered in the attention of most, myself in a fitful conversation with a recently introduced acquaintance. I was explaining my decision to rule out alcohol for the forty days of Lent before Easter when I heard her remark, "what did you just say?" Across the table, I restated my intentions. I'm not sure if anyone else heard our conversation, but a shift occurred in my world. "I'd like to join you in that," she stated matter-of-factly.

Our phone conversations grew more regular and longer. She called me from the Blue Post in Wilmington, NC and lamented the ban from beer, relating to me the wooden post where she recorded her taste-tally of every beer they served in that place. I brought my favorite Cuban sandwiches to her roof, hot tea to her door, flowers to church, my best shoes to her loft the night I came over to cook for her. She would wear this corduroy jacket with slogan-bearing buttons, her hair styled and funky, drawn into cohesion with vibrant flowing fabrics for her top, the kind other main-stream girls started flying months thereafter. She had a mysterious, creative, passionate edge that left an impact my family began to notice. They say that I had begun to mention this name much more frequently.

Finally, at Lent's end on Easter Sunday, we met at a restaurant near Piedmont Park and I scribbled a little poem on the back of a receipt that was lost when her apartment flooded. She claims that was the night she first looked at me and felt the gravity of attraction. But from that point forward, we never left the same page through our dating days, marriage, and the birth of our son. It is as though someone were writing our love story and weaving our lives together in space and time, for me and a woman whose name is star.

Meeting the rest of the family!

2008-08-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

Starting with The Grandstaff family, Isaac was able to meet some of our dearest family in Florida. After Captiva Island Mike went back to Nicaragua and I started Isaac's tour. I spent a few days in Orlando, Fl with my Aunt Linda & Uncle Jim as well as some of my closest cousins and it was a sweet few days spent with everyone! Isaac had a great time and I had fun showing him off! Towards the end there is a picture with my Grandmother and Isaac. So sweet he is the first great grandson!

Elmer Family Reunion : Captiva Island, Fl

2008-08-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

My husband's father (Mike Sr.) had a family reunion at the end of July. There were about 30 Elmer's there from all over the map. I think we traveled the longest and Isaac was the youngest by far! This trip was also Isaac's first time "home" to the States so it was a pretty big adventure! We had an awesome time to say the least. Here are a few pictures from the 4 days we spent in Captiva Island. Wow! What a beautiful place. Thanks Mom and Dad for the invite! :)

Everything Purple

2008-07-13T13:56:00.001-07:00

I went to my friend Krista's house for her daughter's 3rd birthday last weekend. Aliyah turned 3 and she wanted an "everything purple" themed birthday party. She is an amazing young girl and Mike and I love her dearly. Isaac didn't wear purple but can a new mom really put her son in a purple onesie? come on! :)We had fun to say the least.

4th of July

2008-07-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm so behind. I realize that we're (I'm) slacking in the world of blogging but this is just going to have to do! :). For July 4th Mike, Isaac, and I spent the evening with a great family we know here, the Buzbee's. We had a blast with dressing up, fireworks, and great company. Here are a few pictures from that night.

Grammer Elmer's visit!

2008-06-13T20:37:00.000-07:00

My mother in law came to Nicaragua for 4 days to deliver some important papers/see her new grandson for the second time. We had a lot of fun and took A LOT of pictures of Isaac. Here are a handful. I hope you enjoy! Can you believe he's 7 weeks now?

we love the dalke's!

2008-06-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

As you know, it's taken me a while to get the ball rolling here. There is a lot more that goes on here than just our son:). God has really blessed us with some great friendships and it's about time I show you one of our favorite couples here! Nate and Amy Dalke! They work with Young Life here and have been for close to 2 years now. They live in our neighborhood and Amy and I go walking 4-6 days a week together. She has become my closest friend here by far! Nate and Mike play ultimate frizbe on Sundays and we like to get together for dinner parties as well. Here are a few pictures I've neglected to post until now. The most recent one is last Friday when we went out to eat with out Isaac! I was so proud of us:).

six weeks

2008-06-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

hi mom!

A lot of women say it takes 6 weeks to feel back to normal again after having a baby. I'd say that's pretty accurate. There is no excuse though why I haven't posted more pictures of my son that I'm falling more in love with every day. Each week I get an email from babycenter.com giving me an update on how my infant is developing. They sent me weekly updates throughout my pregnancy and now they send me one now that's he's actually here! At 6 weeks they say they will start smiling at you. Amazing how God makes us all so different but very similar. Thank you God for the sweet smiles I've been getting lately. They are making all the hard work pay off :) Without further delay, here are a few!

I didn't say he doesn't cry :)
always with his tongue out!
next to mike's shoe to show you his size. ha ha..

D Day!

2008-05-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

getting wheeled away!

one last shot

they were for real!

Ok, I said I was going to do it tomorrow but since Isaac is sleeping now I'm going to allow myself the time to post some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Many of you may know this already but I ended up giving birth via c-section due to a few complications. Thankfully it was planned and I had him one day prior to my due date. Honestly, it was such a wonderful experience in so many ways but mostly because I knew God was walking me through the whole thing. I felt Him with me. Mike was an amazing support to me that day and has been since, but especially that day! Mom and Jessica were at the hospital as well but only Mike could be in the surgery room. Enough of the gibber jabber here are some pictures.

Isaac Michael Patterson Elmer
Born: April 22, 2008 at 12:40pm
7 lbs 1 oz and 20 1/2 inches

I love the look on Mike's face here! What a pumped dad :)
How sweet is this? My first good look at him a proud "sweet mama" Aunt Jess
and then they came...

It was a long two days and there are still more pictures to come. I needed to start somewhere and I figured this was a great intro. We seriously had close to 50 people visit us in less than 48 hours. God has blessed us with an AMAZING community here. I'm still in awe of his glory. Thank you Lord for bringing this healthy, beautiful boy into this world!

And life begins...

2008-05-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

I'm going to go ahead and admit that most of my readers are going to be disappointed that I don't blog more often. I'm not saying that in a pompous way or anything. I used to be so computer savvy and spend way too much time on the computer but I'm afraid those days are over. What's really crazy is that I have the time. Maybe I just lack the desire. Now that Isaac is here I really am going to try to make more of an effort. How does that sound?

So a lot has happened in a month. The eggs hatched and the baby birds flew away already. Not only that but a new Mama bird came in and built a new next right on top of the old one. She had two eggs as well but only one survived. It made me kind of sad to be honest with you. All that to say is that I'm a super slacker. OK, so it's not just that either. It's been 3 weeks and one day since I gave birth to my beautiful son, Isaac Michael Patterson Elmer (I'll be sending out birth announcements soon enough). I'll have to blog about that whole experience too on another blog. Tonight I'm just posting pictures of the baby birds that I'm hoping are still alive. They flew away while my Mom and sister were here and it was something I'll never forget. What I really want to say is that I've seen God's hand in such a mighty way over the last 3 weeks. Through my incredible husband, my loving mother, sister, and in-laws. God is good! I can't wait for you to meet Isaac some day! I can't even tell you how much I love being a mom. Maybe that will be tomorrows post?

truly blessed,

Mama E.

Nesting Part II

2008-04-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've been working hard on this so called "nest" for several months now. Mike and I have been blessed above and beyond with friends we call family here that have really helped us out along the way. For instance, our crib and changing table was given to us. Now as a new Mom I wanted the very best for our son and something brand new...but God wanted to give me something better. A family that Mike knows wanted to give us theirs! Now, being in Nicaragua we are somewhat limited to nicer things. There are a few (especially for babies) but it's triple the price as it would be at home. To make a long story short, we got the crib and changing table and some guys at the cabinet shop Mike works with totally refinished it for free ( as their gift to us!) So I can go ahead and say it's safe to say we saved around $500 right there.

I was blessed with two amazing showers both of which were equally awesome. The stateside one was especially sweet because both of our Mothers were there as well as my sister. I was literally showered with some AMAZING gifts. After a few exchanges and returns I had an ample amount of money to work with which is what went towards bedding and such for the baby. All of which was completely covered and I had a hefty amount left. I was blown away by our friends generosity, as well as our families. Thank you thank you thank you for that! My shower was sweet here as well due to my friends that have become family to us. A lot of brothers and sisters in Christ. More than we could have ever wished for. God is good. Enough said. I guess it's not too late to post pictures of those showers. But for today here are the nursery. Enjoy!

Nesting and Investing

2008-03-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have days where you think that God is trying to show you something? I do. I'm counting down the days until we're expecting our first son (25 to be exact) and it's been quite an exciting journey. I've been blessed with an amazing pregnancy and God has really blown me away by His love and mercy upon me. I feel honored that He has chosen me to carry this child and bring him into this world. My husband has been a trooper as my emotions have been the biggest challenge. I've spent several hours on building a nest for our little guy. It's been a lot off work and I still feel slightly anxious about the events to come knowing that this is the first time we'll have ever experienced anything like this. I know God is in control though so I'm trying to focus on that!

Throughout my pregnancy I've exercised by walking between 3-5 days a week which has been a true blessing. Each morning I exit our condo and face a planter and the first thing I see is a large fern. Not until last week did I notice something different. There were two birds that flew away as I closed the front door to leave. It got me thinking...maybe they're building a nest too? Sure enough, I peeped my head over and saw a little nest forming. I thought this was so sweet knowing the timing of this. The next day I slowly opened to door to find the mama on the nest. She flew away quickly which made me sad but I was elated to see there was a perfect little egg now resting in that nest. My heart literally melted when I saw God reveal His love for me in that moment. How did He know that I needed to see that? I thought of some verses that are some of my Mom's favorite.

Two days later as I was sending my wonderful in-laws off, I peeped inside and noticed a second egg. How beautiful this was! Not one now but two! No, I'm not telling you that I'm having twins:). I was just excited to see the changes that were taking place right in front of me. Each day truly is a gift from God. I'm realizing this more and more the older I get. With the thoughts of bringing a son into this world I often think of Mary carrying Jesus around for 9 months and what a responsibility that was! I'll keep you posted on my little nest. I'll be posting pictures soon of both my nursery and if anything hatches.