A little update...

For those of you who are wondering where we've been lately, we actually moved to a new place last weekend and have yet to get an internet connection set up on our home computer, so we've been a bit out of the loop. I am using my parents' computer now, but it's hard to say when we may actually have a chance to post again. I promise we will as soon as we can! For now, everyone is doing really well. Adam had pink eye a few weeks ago and both he and Grace have been dealing with coughs and the sniffles since. It seems that they just keep passing whatever germs they have back and forth...poor babies! We are adjusting really well to being in the new place and are getting settled in really quickly....we've had a lot of practice at this moving thing! :) Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is able to take the time to celebrate the amazing blessings that our great God has given to each one of us!

Sweet Grace...

Our precious little girl is growing so fast! This post is going to be pretty much all about our darling Grace. I think Adam will understand... :) But first, I feel like I am the most blessed woman in the world! I know that every mother probably feels that way, or in my opinion, should feel that way. Every baby is an amazing miracle from the Lord! I just know that in spite of those moments of chaos and disorder, I wake up each morning praising the Lord for my sweet children. I LOVE, and I truly do mean LOVE, being Adam and Grace's mommy and I look forward to each new day with them! As you can see, Grace is growing like a weed!! She will be 4 months in just a few days and is adding more and more joy to our lives all the time. She has been doing tons of babbling and laughing those adorable baby belly laughs and has a smile that lights up any room instantly. Unfortunatly, I can never get her to give me a good smile for the camera. She must be camera-shy like her mom. She rolled over from belly to back for the first time on Friday morning. It was just one time and she hasn't done it for me again since, but it was still an exciting moment. She will have her 4 month check-up on November 4, so we'll see where she is weight-wise, but I swear she is almost the same size as Adam! She is getting so big! Some of our friends recently had a baby girl who weighed only 6 lbs. 1 oz. and it's hard to believe that Grace is only 3 1/2 months older than baby Emma. My, how fast they change! Well, here are just a few cute shots for your enjoyment:

This was taken right after her bath. I love all of her curly hair!

Sorry about Grace's creepy eyes in this one. They actually looked even more creepy before I played with the red eye feature, so I decided to stick with this one. I just thought it was a cute shot. Adam loves his sister and always wants to be where she is, doing what she's doing.

It was a little chilly outside, so I put this adorable little hat on her.

I love the lips in this one. :)

Holding her head up so nicely. She was sooo tired in this pic...

Cedarville reunion and other random pics...

Well, this past weekend, we were able to head to Cedarville University for Stephen's 10 year class reunion. We had such an enjoyable time! It was great for Stephen to get to reunite with some of his good college friends and for me to be able to meet them.

While there, we were able to take a little hike around this Gorge. It was a beautiful day...Adam really enjoyed himself!

I thought I'd just throw in some cute shots of the babies...I couldn't resist! :)

Some shots of Adam reading...he's really beginning to LOVE books!

My parents gave Adam this little rocking chair, which he loves. We thought he looked so cute sitting in it in this little outfit.

Our friends the Woodards gave Grace this beautiful blanket with her name embroidered on it...we love it SO much!

Finally, an update!!

Ok, I know I'm LONG overdue for adding a new post. My time spent on the computer is usually only for 5 minutes at a time these days, which hasn't allowed for much time to post on the line. We are still all alive and well, however and have been rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord as our family grows and changes.

Grace continues to change every day. It's hard to believe that she is already 12 weeks old and will be turning 3 months in only a few days. She is smiling and cooing a ton and even laughs every now and then. She has been sleeping 9-10 hours consistently now for a few weeks (Praise the Lord!!), which has made ALL the difference in all of our demeanors. :) It's amazing how much difference a good night of sleep makes. Liz, I know that it will happen for you (if it hasn't already :) when Bree is ready...every baby is different. My babies just tend to be more laid back than most. If you met my husband and I, you would understand exactly how they've come to be that way. :)

Adam is turning into quite the little man. He is understanding sooo many things. He's not talking a whole lot, but we're working on getting him to say/sing the alphabet and so far, he's made it to E. :) Otherwise, he says a few words and loves to do impressions of various animal noises. :) He's really good at mimicking elephants, lions and whales! :) He such a boy, in that he is fascinated with balls and trucks. He also is happiest when he's outside. Boy, does he put up a fight when it's time to come in! It's hard to believe that he is now 18 months...time sure does fly!

Anyway, here are some fairly recent pics:

When I say 'Smile!', this is what he does...silly boy!

For my b-day, Stephen surprised me with these flowers...aren't they beautiful? He's so wonderful!
Another silly smile...
I can never get any photos of Grace with a full smile. Anytime I get one, it comes out blurry, but this is sort of half a smile.



Pretty relaxed in the bumbo...we love this thing!

Zoo Video

Enjoy!

Our zoo trip...

Yesterday my parents took us to the zoo! It turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day weatherwise and we had such an enjoyable time. Here are some pics from our day:









In other news, Grace had her 2 month appointment this morning and she is the picture of health! She now weighs in at 12 lbs. 8 oz. and is 23 1/2 inches long!! What a big girl! She is in the 90th % for weight and 75-90% for height right now, so it was a wonderful checkup. She is going to outgrow her brother before too long! Of course, she had to have 3 shots, which she did not enjoy at all...poor baby! She was a bit fussier than normal this afternoon, but it was the sweetest thing. Adam heard Grace crying and looked so concerned for her, so he started rubbing her belly and giving her little kisses. I wish I had had my camera! It was so cute! We rejoice in God's grace in our lives...He has blessed us in so many ways and we are so thankful...to Him be all the praise and glory!

A little of this, a little of that...

Well, we have been rather busy these last few weeks and so finally I am sitting down to post something new! :) First of all, last weekend, we were able to make a trip to Richmond to visit with Stephen's family and were also able to see some dear friends from our church down there. It was our first long trip with both babies and it was Grace's first long trip anywhere. They did soooo well, with Grace sleeping most of the way, both there and back. Adam was a little trooper and hardly did any fussing, even though he had to sit in that carseat for two 7-8 hour trips. It's hard enough for me, let alone a 17 month old, so I was quite proud of him. In other news, Grace is now almost 9 weeks old!! It's hard for me to believe, but she is growing soooo fast and is almost as big as her brother. :) We have a doctor's appointment this Tuesday and will find out how much she weighs exactly, but I weighed her at home and according to our scale, she weighs 13 lbs!!! Yikes! What a big girl! Adam only weighed 21 lbs...poor guy! He's a skinny minny! It's just like pulling teeth to get him to eat more than a few bites at each meal. I guess if he was hungry, he'd eat, right? This week, Grace slept 8 hours every night! What a blessing for us! I think we are finally getting into a real routine. Just this week, she's been napping so much better. I've been able to put her down when she's wide awake and when I go in to check on her a few minutes later, she'll be asleep. So, she's settling herself down really well most times. We certainly have much to be thankful for!

Stephen's parents, Dan and Mary Lou and Stephen's brother Dan and his wife Kirsten

My silly little boy...I think he looks so much older in this picture.

On one of our walks in the park with my parents...each of us gets to carry a baby now. :)

Paw Paw and Adam...he loves his Paw Paw

Grace in her lovely sling...she loves it!

Some random pics...

Ok, so I thought I'd just post some more recent pics of the babies. We took them to this adorable little park about 10 minutes from where we live and Adam loved the playground.

Poor little baby...he was all tuckered out.

Sweet Grace...giving me a half smile...

We had our first bottle experience with Grace at Rachel's wedding. I decided to pump and give her a bottle since it was such a crazy day. She didn't like it too much, though you wouldn't be able to tell from this photo.

Many congratulations!

First of all, a huge shout of congratulations to the Fischers on sweet baby Gabrielle Rose's (Bree) entrance into the world! Can't wait to see pictures and hear more details! We are soooo excited and happy for you!

Secondly, we are rejoicing in God's goodness in bringing a new brother-in-law into our family. My dear sister Rachel was married to Jeff Clayton this past Saturday. We are so thankful for how God has brought them together. It was a beautiful wedding and I will post more pics as soon as I can get my hands on some. For now however, here is one of the two of us before the ceremony began. Doesn't she look beautiful?

While I have a moment of peace (sort of) :)

So, right now my daughter is sleeping peacefully and my son is playing a game called pull all the books off the bookshelf and scatter them all over the floor. I figured I'd take this moment before instructing my sweet little boy to put all the books that he just pulled off the shelf back to write a quick update regarding our new life as a family of four. First, everything has truly been wonderful so far. Grace is an amazing baby. For those of you who may not have heard of the Babywise series of books, I HIGHLY recommend them! We followed the original book 'Giving your baby the gift of nighttime sleep' (maybe not to a T, but pretty close) with both Adam and now Grace and Adam was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks and for the past week Grace has been sleeping 5-6 hours at night and for the past 2 nights, she slept 7 and 7 1/2 hours straight! Wow! It certainly makes me thankful! She is a really sweet baby...she smiles now. It's especially adorable when she's lying there after I've changed her diaper and am talking or singing to her and she looks up with that precious little grin. She is a BIG girl. Over a week ago at her 3 week appointment, she weighed 10 lbs, 1 oz! She is off the charts for height and in the 75 - 90% for weight, so things are going so well. Adam is a sweet big brother and loves to give baby sister kisses. So far, he is adjusting really well. I have not been able to sit down at the computer for very long at one time because there are soooo many distractions these days...imagine that! :)

This past weekend, my parents took us to Idlewild park about 1 hour east of Pittsburgh. Adam really enjoyed the water part of the park. It really was an enjoyable day.