And if you've read this far...and you want more...click here, and scroll down to the pumpkin pictures on Oct. 27.
October 30, 2009
Again
I just had to revisit the last post and say again that Jeff took care of the kids and brought Grace to me for her mealtimes. He didn't complain at all, and it was a lot of work to keep driving the kiddos to me (not that Jonathan needed me for meals, but Jeff couldn't exactly bring Grace alone!) Jeff was so encouraging and made it possible for me to get away and refill my tank, so to speak. And he was even happy that I got some scrapbooking done. Jeff is a great dad and I never worry when the kids are with him. He was such a servant to do everything while I had fun and relaxed. Grace rewarded him with four poopy diapers. That's my girl!
Happy Huskers
Jeff gave me a huge treat this past weekend. He made it possible for me to get out of the house and scrapbook Friday evening until late, and then again all day on Saturday. He took care of the kids and brought Grace to me the three times she needed to eat while I was away on Saturday. I had a fantastic time and got 30 pages done in her book, too. (Now I can actually say that she has a scrapbook. Before that, she just had plans.) Saturday was a game day for the Huskers, so I made sure that the kids were dressed appropriately. Jeff took these pictures. I always have the kids close together when I take their pictures, but it looks like farther apart might actually work better...
The cushions piled on the back of the couch were Jonathan's idea. He insisted that the sill on the half-wall did not match with their Huskers outfits. Funny coming from a boy who doesn't care what he wears, but those of you who know him probably won't be surprised that the background was important to him.
The Huskers lost Saturday, but I think my happiness about my getaway made up for any disappointment in our house about the game. Maybe.
October 28, 2009
A Treasure
When Jonathan was a baby, our friend Emily painted the "J" for him on the right. We love it and have always had it hanging on his bedroom door. When Guy and Emily's third-born, Kathleen, came in May, I knew she had her hands full and never dreamed that Em would paint a "G" for Grace. A few weeks ago, we received a package in the mail, and-surprise-she made one! Here are the J and G hanging on the kids' doors. Grace's is the cutest, most feminine little thing. It even sparkles.
Jonathan and Grace both have a page in their baby scrapbooks entitled "Treasures." You can be sure that a picture of each painting will be going in their books! Thank you, Emily!
A Visit from Kathy
Last week, we had the treat of a visit from Kathy, Isaac, and Olivia. The babies had changed so much since our last visit!
I didn't get any great pictures of the girls, since I was mostly holding Grace, and Kathy was mostly chasing Olivia, who is a skilled crawler and cruiser now. Just a glimpse into what Grace will be doing in four short months...or maybe more than four, because Kathy's kids tend to reach the physical milestones earlier than mine. I'm fine with that!
The boys stayed busy and had a great time!
They even sneaked in some wrestling on the way out.
Thanks for a great visit, Kathy!
October 27, 2009
Seven Month Checkup
Just a quick note to let you know that Grace had her seven-month checkup (a little late) this morning. According to the doctor's measurements, she weighs 18 lbs, 9 oz., which is in the 75th percentile, and she is 28 1/2" long which is in the 95th or 97th percentile. (She has half an inch before she outgrows her infant seat...long enough for me to get the bigger car seat cleaned up and check to see if its LATCH belt is still safe. It looks a little suspicious to me.) The doc is comfortable with how she's sitting and babbling for her age and says that her pincer grasp will be the next thing to come. (No sign of teeth yet.) Just for fun, here's what she looked like at seven months, and here's what Jonathan looked like. And here, too. :)
October 26, 2009
On the Way Home
Sunday morning, we stopped and went to church with some old friends on the way home. It was good to reconnect with friends we had known before and had not seen in a long time. And since we had missed out on church for the two weeks prior to this one, we really enjoyed being back.
Jonathan got to see Natalie again. Natalie is in second grade now, and Brian said it seemed like she had just grown three inches in no time! She and Jonathan played chase while the adults chatted, at we had a lot of fun watching them.
For those of you who know them, here's a picture of the kids almost exactly four and a half years ago. We were driving to the hospital to meet brand-new baby Emma Claire for the first time.
Natalie gave Jonathan his first kiss from a girl. (And maybe his only one so far?) Don't worry, she didn't kiss him this time!
The kids and grownups had lunch together after church, and although I was preoccupied with feeding Grace again, I had a great chance to talk with Janet, which I really enjoyed. Jeff chatted with everybody else, I think, and Jonathan talked to anyone who would listen. If you've heard him talk about Legos or this trip, you know what I mean!
Here's a shot of what we saw as we drove home.
If you've ever vacationed with little ones, you know that, for a mom, a vacation can really be a relocation of all the work you normally do. With that in mind, I tried not to get my hopes up for a lot of relaxing, even though I planned to have a lot of fun. Our trip was better than I expected. Not only did I have a lot of fun with my three favorite people, but I got to spend some time relaxing, too. Jeff is getting better and better at planning trips (which he already had a knack for,) and we are all learning how we enjoy traveling as a family. I'm really thankful for the time we spent on our family vacation.
Jacob and Laura and the Beach
Jacob and Laura came to share the last day or so of our vacation with us. We were so happy to see them! They made our trip so much better.
Grace and her uncle Jake
I forgot to post this on the post about guy things, so here's a picture of Jonathan with a Lamborghini. The guys visited a dealership that sold these and other similarly priced cars. Crazy.
Jonathan was sitting on my tummy, which made me laugh, which bounced him up and down, which made him laugh.
Jonathan and his aunt Laura
Our kids love Jacob and Laura.
Yep, they still love each other! We had a really relaxing trip to the beach. More of a short walk than a trip, since we were so close to it.
He can make anything into a vehicle.
Grace got her chance to wear her swimsuit and cover up from Lou and Lionel.
She wanted you to see the back of her cute suit. Not to mention her prominent bald spot.
This may be my favorite picture of the whole trip...although this one is pretty awesome.
Playtime
I love this picture, too. Grace loved feeling the sand in between her toes.
Our spot
You can see, in the background, that Jeff has never met a stranger.
Time to chat with my friend!
Building a sandcastle
Sweet. Grace loved Laura's buttons.
Laura and Jacob with Grace
It was the perfect last day of vacation.
October 23, 2009
How We Named Them
I've been tagged by Jennie at A Little Something Extra for Us to tell about how we named our kids. If you haven't visited her blog yet this month, click on over...she's posting about Micah, her family, and Down Syndrome every day. It's pretty appropriate that Jennie is the one who tagged me because Jeff and I were honored to stand up in Mark and Jennie's wedding, and when we did, we were already hoping our family would be starting very soon.
As it turned out, we had a lot more time to choose baby names than we had expected.
Jeff and I both like traditional names, names from the Bible, and family names. We like names with meaning and significance. I should have written down how we arrived at our boy and girl names the first time around, but I didn't! I'll try to remember the best I can.
We chose our girl name, Grace Evelyn, first. Grace reminds us of God's grace, his free and unmerited favor - his gift of love and mercy toward us that we don't deserve and can't earn. Evelyn means life. Jeff and I both have grandmas named Evelyn, and this made it easy to honor both families with our girl name.
We had a harder time choosing our boy name, Jonathan David. Jonathan means God gives or Gift from God, and David means beloved. David was Israel's greatest king and a man after God's heart. Jonathan was a prince and David's best friend. With these two names, we were able to honor both of our dads, John and David, and also honor both families.
When our first baby was born - our 8 lb., 15 oz., 23" miracle - and we learned that he was a boy, we were not sure that we had chosen the right name after all. (He came out head-over-heels and peeing, by the way, so does that mean he actually weighed 9 lbs.?) We spent a few hours re-deciding on his name and ultimately kept the name we had chosen. His name fits him. He is God's gift, and we love him dearly!
We kept our girl name in hope that we'd use it someday! To make a very long story short, we had an even harder time getting pregnant the second time, and after exhausting medical options-or, exhausting ourselves, really-we embraced the pursuit of adoption instead. Grace Evelyn would still be our girl, and we tentatively chose Benjamin Jeffrey as our boy name. We were super excited to be chosen as adoptive parents, and after a very bumpy experience navigating adoption paperwork and red tape, all we needed was a birthmom. Our profile was ready and waiting.
In June/July 2008, while we were a "waiting family," we visited our old town and saw lots of old friends. They had heard about our adoption and were excited for us. I had resolved to give away my maternity clothes when we returned from our trip so that someone could use them before they were dated and unusable. While we were on our trip, we went to church with Anna and Brian and heard a sermon about Isaac, which means laughter or "God laughed." Jeff wanted to include Isaac in the baby's name. Our boy name was going to be some combination of Benjamin, Isaac, and Jeffrey, with Jeffrey coming last. We had a hard time narrowing it down to two names...actually, I think we had decided that we'd use all three. But, Jeff told me later, after hearing the sermon about God's laughter, he had a feeling that Something Was Up.
When we got home, I don't know what possessed me to take a pregnancy test, but I took one. I can't begin to express my shock when I saw those two pink lines. It was the best surprise of my life. It was a little strange, though, because we had fully embraced the hope of adoption and let go of the hope of pregnancy, and now we had to switch. I wrote about it on our adoption blog and won't go into it here. Needless to say, I didn't give away those maternity clothes, and I will spend the rest of my life thanking God for the blessing of our children-the two we have now, and hopefully more that we'll have later. Whether through birth or adoption, we're not sure, but we still want to adopt someday.
So, I'm supposed to be responding to Jennie's tag, and I'll get to it! We didn't know whether we'd be having a Benjamin-Isaac-Jeffrey or a Grace Evelyn, but on March 16, we found out. The midwives had been guessing that our baby was a boy for the last few appointments based on the heart rate, and even while I was in labor, our midwife said, "It still sounds like a boy!" So, when our ten pound miracle was born, we couldn't believe how pudgy and sweet SHE was...and that she was a GIRL! We kept marveling over the fact that she was here...and so big...and a girl! (I should mention that, while Jonathan came out peeing, the midwife and nurse tell me that Grace came out waving. She had one hand up by her face on the way out.) So, we have our little Gracie, and we can save the decision making on the boy name for another day. Grace's name fits, her, too-she is God's gift of life to us, a gift that we don't deserve.
October 22, 2009
The Zoo
By Friday, Jeff and I agreed that we were done with attractions. But, since we already had our passes and were in San Diego, we needed to go to the zoo. After all, it's THE Zoo, right? So, off we went.
Now I totally understand why my friend, Dorothy (and probably others) are disappointed by all other zoos after going to the one in San Diego. It really was amazing.
Little Mr. Mechanical was super excited to try one of those machines that smashes your penny into a souvenir. It's amazing how much joy could come from $.51! He was thrilled.
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