London, Two Months

Dear London,
I can't believe you are already two months old. I wish I could write into words how much I love you. You have totally captured my heart and I am so so so in love with you. You make my heart melt with your beautiful blue eyes and your beautiful smile. You started smiling around five weeks and you haven't stopped since. You also began cooing and it is just precious. You are my sweet baby girl. In the past week, you started sleeping 3-4 hour stretches, which was awesome:). Prior to that, you were up every two hours. But honestly, I didn't mind at all because I am so thankful for you and I know this sleeplessness is just for a season. It also helps that you give me the best smiles at 3a.m.
Your beginning to be more content and more of a relaxed baby. Your fussy time is around 6-8 p.m., but that is becuase you are so tired and you are ready for bed.
You LOVE, LOVE, LOVE bath time. You have loved bath time from the beginning. It has become a fun activity and you are so happy and content chilling in your warm bath. You spit up often, so we try and give you a bath every day.
You are eating like a champ and nursing so well. I was so nervous to nurse this time around because of my rough time nursing with Graham, but I am so thankful that it is going awesome.
I love you baby girl. You light up our life. Graham adores you and is always quick to give you your pacifier when you start crying. He loves giving you hugs and kisses and saying "awww" as he does those things. He also loves holding you. He says, "help" and runs to sit on the couch with his arms spread out to hold you. You are so lucky to have a big brother like him.
I thank God for you and your brother daily. You and Graham are the greatest blessings. Happy Two Months baby girl!!!!
Love, Mama

Graham, YOU are LOVED!!!

Graham, You are such a sweet, sweet boy. You are an incredible big brother. You LOVE holding London and often extend your arms out and ask to "help" which means you want to hold her. We have you sit down and hold her and you just beam. You sure love her :).

You make your daddy and I smile SO much. You truly light up our lives. We laugh so much with you and you make our days SO fun.

You make my heart melt....your my best little buddie.

You adore your daddy and would spend every second with him if you could. He adores you too and has so much love in his heart for you. You are so SO so SO lucky to have him as a daddy. He wrestles with you, dances with you, takes you out and about and just loves on you so much. You are richly blessed to have a daddy like him.

We love you SO much Graham! We love living life with you and are so lucky to be your mommy and daddy!!!!!!

London Alexandra

Our precious baby girl was born on July 18, 2011! London weighed 6 pounds and is the cutest little peanut! My labor and delivery was amazing and I feel so blessed!! I truly love labor and delivery! Life has been hectic adjusting to having two babies now, but one month later, I feel like we are in more of a routine and things are going well. Graham is adjusting much better to his baby sister and we love our new family of four. We are so thankful to the Lord for giving us these precious gifts!

Our California Adventure :).

I just had the BEST week ever. John, Grahamster and I just got back from a week in California. I fell in love with California and ask John daily when we can move there. It was my first time visiting Cali. We had such an incredible week and created such awesome family memories. Although flying with a 19 month old is NOT ideal, we made it and I'm glad I won't be flying for awhile :). We arrived at the airport and was upgraded from a Chevy Aveo to THIS (for free) :

Although California was colder than normal the week we were there, it was still ten million times better than Indiana weather. The sun was always shinning and that made this mommma one happy lady.
I wrote down a few things in my journal that made my heart so full of joy. Here are just a few:
- Cruising down the freeway in a red camaro listening to oldies. Beautiful sun shiney day and I have my favorite people in the world next to me. I AM BLESSED.
- Jumping in the waves at Laguna Beach and laughing together. Graham had the biggest smile on his face and was laughing so much. PURE JOY. This is the life I have always dreamt of. Together as a family, laughing, creating memories.
- Driving into Disneyland. John's dream come true of always wanting to go. He said he had tears in his eyes knowing he was completing a dream with his family alongside him.

Although we have MANY, MANY more wonderful memories, those are just a few that I will share. I absolutely cherished this past week with my sweet family. I had such an amazing time with John...he is the absolute best husband and father. He was my knight in shinning amor in dealing with Graham on the plane (changing TWO dirty diapers in a airplane bathroom). John is what I always wanted in a husband AND MORE. I am one blessed girl and I LOVE living life with him.
I love being a momma to Graham and creating so many special memories with him. I'm so blessed to have a healthy, adorable, fun, precious little boy. He is my world.
Here are some pictures from our time in California:
Where we ate breakfast every.single.day. AMAZING.

My happy husband on our way to DisneyLand :) :

My happy sweet pea :)

I have MUCH more to share about our time in California, but that is another post for another day :).

Taking time to be thankful

I absolutely am so thankful that God has given me an incredible husband, son and another little one on the way. I feel so blessed to be married to the man I have, to have the perfect, most precious son and to be carrying another little life in me.

Lately I have just felt so blessed and thankful for these blessings in my life. I love that I am married to my best friend and that we love living life together. I love interacting with Graham and watching him play. He is at such a fun age and I am constantly smiling as I watch him or think about him. I know it's so easy to complain about what we wish we had or how we wish things were going, but I also know it's so important to take time to thank God for the incredible blessings he has given to us.

A few things I am thankful for :

My husband who was created perfectly just for me

My precious little boy...there aren't enough words to express my love for him!!!!


Watching my husband be an incredible father to Graham


And last but definetly not least, my precious baby girl! I'm 25 weeks in this picture (but 26.5 weeks now). I absolutely love feeling her move inside of me. She is already such a gift ;).

My domestic side!!

Recently, I took up a hobby in sewing and began creating different things. I recently made this birthday outfit for a one year old's birthday!!!
I really enjoy this hobby and the creative outlet it gives me. This week I ordered some books on sewing and am excited to get those and start sewing away. I'm hoping to make some maternity dresses. There is definitely a market for stylish maternity clothes!! Hopefully I'll have a new project to post soon :).

Growing up!

My little one is growing up SO fast....


Ten tiny little fingers that always want to play

That never stop exploring the wonder of today

Ten tiny little fingers that from the very start

Will reach out for tomorrow yet always hold your heart.
-- Author Unknown

Family Time!

My husband has been incredibly busy the last couple of month with various school, work, church and conference commitments. I have been REALLY missing him being home. This weekend has been totally committed to family time and it has been wonderful. My heart is full of love and happiness. Sometimes you can't get around certain commitments, but it's so important to carve out family time and reconnect with the ones you love most :).

PINK, PINK, PINK!!!!

Last week we had our ultrasound and we found out that we are having a baby girl!!!! We are so so so excited :). I thought for sure we would have another boy, but now I am so happy that we will be having a little princess!!! Graham is going to be a great big brother!
I have still been feeling so exhausted. I am going to have my levels checked again soon to see if my hypothyroidism has gotten better. At my 12 week appointment, they discovered through my blood work that my thyroid levels were off and my thyroid wasn't working properly. I have been on medicine to help correct it, but to be honest, haven't really felt any different.
I'm now 21 weeks along and feel like this pregnancy is flying by!! I'm sure July will be here before I know it.

Family Fun Day

This morning, John, Graham and I headed out of town to meet John's sister and her son for breakfast. We met at an amazing Amish bakery and had the most incredible donuts and cinnamon rolls I had ever had. Truly...the donuts melted in your mouth and tasted divine. John and I quickly claimed this as our absolute favorite donut place and decided to make this trip more often. We had such a nice time.
Graham and my nephew were quickly getting restless in the bakery, so we decided to head down the road a little ways and check out this place where they had carousel rides. Graham LOVED the carousel!!! We were able to take some video of him on it and he was just the happiest little guy riding his "horse". The place where we were at also had a cute toy store and Graham enjoyed playing there as well. We called it a day when Graham started getting fussy as he was well past his nap. I love having family days and spending time together. We were able to have a family fun day for hardly any money and we created alot of fun memories :).

Encouraged

The past couple weeks have been tough. Being in ministry is no easy task. Anytime you deal with people, it can get difficult. There have just been some things that have been happening the past couple of weeks that has left my heart heavy and discouraged. John had a meeting tonight and after I put Graham to bed, I just got out my Bible and turned on some worship music and just went before the Lord. I was so comforted to read encouraging verses in the Bible and just hear the sweet words of encouraging, uplifting worship music. The Lord comforted me tonight and I feel so loved and so encouraged by him. It was such a great time of encouragement for me and exactly what I needed.

coming in July, 2011

We finally announced to the world that we are expecting baby #2!!! Graham is going to be a big brother! We are super excited to expand our little family and thank God for allowing us to have another little one.
I am almost 14 weeks along now! It's crazy that I am already out of the first trimester. I felt pretty sick (much more this time around) and extremely exhausted these past few months. The exhaustion could also be due to my thyroid. My doctor called me last week and stated that my thyroid levels were off and that I have hypothyroid. He put me on medicine which he says will help with my exhaustion. I AM HOPING!!!! I am due July 20, 2011---right smack dab in the middle of summer. John and I are so excited:).



It's been a cold, snowy January and Graham is not a big fan of staying indoors. He misses our walks, playing outside and feeding the ducks. We are definitely looking forward to spring :). Graham is 15 months old and the best little guy ever!! I LOVE this age! He is so much fun and interactive. We have alot of fun playing together and he is starting to say more words. He makes me smile so many times through out the day. He truly is our blessing upon blessing!!