Setting Out

Here is Grace at seven weeks, making her first cross-country plane trip.

Jonathan gets to eat special treats anytime we fly during takeoff and landing.  He knows it's part of the trip and looks forward to it.

Grace did her job on the planes!

We're Back!

We got back last last night from a week-long family vacation to see friends in the area where we used to live.  I'm going to have lots of pictures to share.  I'm not sure how long it will take me to do it!

As anyone who has traveled with children knows, a vacation is not really a vacation, but lots of work.  However, the work was totally worth it.  We were able to spend special time with special people, and all in all, the travel went smoothly.  Grace and Jonathan both did well, and she didn't lose weight!  We're so thankful for all the friends we were able to see (and sorry to miss the ones we didn't get to see!) and also thankful to be back home.

Everything was fine when we got home except that an army of ants has made a trail from our front door, across the entryway tile, through the living area along the baseboard, across the kitchen floor, up the stove, and onto the counters.  I'm not sure what they're after, but I have another project to tackle today!  More pictures and more interesting news soon...

What's Going On

Just a quick summary for Gracie: She's holding her head up pretty well and can sometimes roll from her tummy to her back. She has found her fingers and can sometimes comfort herself with them-although not at all consistently. She's had good, long stretches at night for the last two nights, which has been great for me!

Jonathan's summary is not so quick because I have some quotes from him to share. The first might be too much information because the sound he's talking about is the sound of me pumping, but oh well, here you go.

"That clicking sound is the blue rock monsters walking."

"What would happen if everything in the whole world was made of Play-Doh?"

"Funny how when you're close to things they look big and when you're far from things they look small."

We are thankful for the joy that Gracie and Jonathan bring to us.

"Tractor Mobile!"

Trying So Hard

Grace has been trying sooo hard to hold her head up well.  Here she is a week ago, practicing.  Love the eyes crossed and tongue out in concentration.  She's doing so much better now.  I'll post a picture when I can.

Two Visits

We enjoyed two more visits for Gracie in one day last week: my friend Teri came by before Jonathan's nap, and Jetta came by with her four youngest children after Jonathan's nap. It really made my day to see these friends! Gracie has been eating really frequently and I haven't been out as much as I'd like.  Although, I'm sure it would be easier for me to get out than it was for Jetta and her kiddos to get out!  Here they are having a picnic with us:

Helia, Cora, Peter, Jetta, Annelies, and Jonathan.  As you can easily see, the kids are saying...and eating...cheese.

She's Changing!

She has changed a lot in the past six weeks.  These pictures were taken on Sunday when she was almost seven weeks old.  Click here to see what she looked like in the same outfit six weeks earlier.

Addition by Jonathan

"Fancy plus crazy makes fazy!"

"Small and large make medium!"

Fishes

According to Jonathan: "Fishes don't need goggles when their eyes are open underwater. That's the funny thing about fishes."

Little Sleepers

Since Jonathan has been born, I haven't been able to resist taking pictures of a baby (and now, big boy) sleeping. Here are a couple of pictures from yesterday.

Jonathan still goes down for a nap every day, but doesn't always fall asleep. He can't seem to resist flipping the pulls on the drawers and cabinet under his mattress. They make a great metallic sound. He loves funny sounds (and I suppose all boys do.) His captain's bed was mine when I was little (and then my brother's and sister's) and so I've heard that sound countless times. It reminds me of getting dressed in the morning when I was young. It's funny how little sounds like that can bring back memories. Anyway, he fell asleep right in the middle of handle-flipping yesterday. I showed him the picture, and he thought it was pretty funny.

And this one's just cute.