Fall is creeping in...

The morning started with my sweet hubby taking me and Grace out to a fun little breakfast Cafe in the Perry District (dad & mom we're taking you there when you come :-)  Grandpa generously watched Josiah for us this morning (thanks again Larry!!).  Not wanting this cool Saturday morning to go to waste we went to explore a new park near our house.  It was beautiful, quiet and fun! There is a pond and Martin was going to chase after ducks so naturally Josiah wanted to get in the water too. The last 2 pics of Josiah crack me up.  I was holding Grace at one point while we walked and Josiah wanted to get in the stroller so he manages to comfortably fit his body in her little car seat and peaks over the side so he can see while we walk. HAHA It was funny to watch. You will notice in our pictures below we are no longer sporting Tanks and T's. The evenings are getting into the 40's now and it makes me excited for fall yet a little sad that our short summer really is coming to an end. (excuse the picture layout, I can't seem to get the pics to go where I want)

Babies of Mine

I love the song "Baby Mine"

Baby mine, don't you cry

Baby mine, dry your eyes

Rest your head close to my heart

Never to part, baby of mine

Little one when you play

Don't you mind what you say

Let those eyes sparkle and shine

Never a tear, baby of mine

If they knew sweet little you

They'd end up loving you too

All those same people who scold you

What they'd give just for

The right to hold you

From your head to your toes

You're not much, goodness knows

But you're so precious to me

Cute as can be, baby of mine

Let's Compare

this is Josiah at a few weeks old

And Grace

What do we think? Any similarities?

My Helper

Josiah is such a big help these days...

Daddy's Little Girl

Love those eyes!

Love those baby blue eyes Josiah has (despite the black around the one :-)

     I wonder what sister's eyes will look like when she's 21 months old.

Sleeping

Everyone always seems to be sleeping around here. So then why am I so tired? (maybe I should stop blogging and go to bed! ;-)

The first family outing :-)

The transition to 2 kids hasn't been quite as hard as I had imagined. I am definitely low on sleep, however, I really can't complain because Grace is doing a GREAT job at night. She sleeps well, wakes up every 3-4 hours to eat, then goes right back to sleep.  I did the first grocery store outing the other day and it was just fine :-) Joey sat in the front and Grace was in her car seat in the basket.  She pretty much is asleep everywhere we go so that makes it easy for the time being. The weather here continues to be warm and Beautiful so today Brian and I decided to go downtown to the bookstore and park and we ran into lot's of fun stuff going on for kids.  Booths, Slides, Balloons, Firetrucks to tour.  It was a fun first outing with our 2 kids. Here's a few pics.

Thank You YiaYia!

My eye is getting better and YiaYia sent me the coolest book! Thank you YiaYia. I love it and it's great as I am learning new words so fast now!

Let the Healing begin

Here's his face today.  His eye just keeps getting droopier and droopier.  Probably bothers me more than it does Josiah.  Hes just so pitiful looking, but it's kinda cute :-)

An one of little sister

A Rough Day

Some Days are just Rough!

Josiah fell off the stairs of our deck onto the cement and got a lovely goose egg on his head. Today his little eye is more swollen and like most bumps an bruises it's only gonna look worse before it looks better.
Dad and Grandpa came to the rescue after Josiah went to bed last night and put up a brand new railing to ensure no more falling off the stairs! Big thanks to Brian and Larry for all your hard work last night!! :-)

First of Many

Ok we must share the traditional first bath pictures :-)  When I pulled out the baby bathtub Josiah said, "pool, pool!"  and so we went with it,  "yes this is Grace's pool". So for Grace's first swimming experience Josiah definitely had to "help" out. It was really really cute!  He wanted to wash her, which meant get water all over the kitchen.  After her bath, he quickly ran outside to his own pool :-)

Grace's Birth Story

Grace was due July 25th, 2010 and didn't come until August 2nd.  We had a scheduled induction which I wasn't really excited about, but either way it was time, Grace needed to come out.  Brian and I drove to the hospital at 7:30am Monday morning feeling excitment, nervous, a little unsure of what lay ahead but over all so ready to meet this little girl.  We check in, which was odd, kinda like going to a hotel and saying we're here to check in for the night. We show up and say, "Hi we're here to have a baby today..."  WIERD! They get us into the birthing room and settled and my doctor comes in and the first thing she does is break my water.  Once she broke my water contractions started up pretty quickly on their own.  I was most nervous about having to start labor with Pitocin, but thankfully things were already under way before they gave me a small amount of Pitocin to keep things moving along.  Let the laboring begin! I was able to labor how I wanted comfortably in our room. We had a wonderful nurse, Bethany, with us who took great care of me throughout the whole short process. My best friend Johanna was nearby at a doc's appointment and wanted to stop by and say Hi. So she came around 10:45am and at that point I was dilated to a 6. I decided I'd like to get an epidural soon so I could just chill out and "enjoy" the rest of labor.  I threw up which dilated me to a 7 :-) then the anithesiologist shows up around 11:15 and asked Johanna to leave the room while I got my epidural.  She gives me the epidural and it's just starting to only work on my right side. All of the sudden I'm in so much pain I can't think straight and I'm just wondering when this epidural is going to kick in and then my doctor is there telling me it's time to push! WHAT?! but I'm still in pain? is this normal?? I dont' think I can do this.  9 minutes of pushing and then I hear this beautiful baby cry and they are laying this baby on my chest.  Grace immediately poops all over me (which Josiah also did that to me when they laid him on my chest).  And all I can think is Praise God we have another miracle.  They take her away and call out that she weighs 9lbs. 3oz.!!  I just can't believe I was carrying this large baby around last week. No wonder I was so uncomfortable! So after just 4 hrs. of labor I am oh so thankful for a nice big healthy baby!  Things calm down and I realize my friend Johanna was asked to leave a little bit ago. I wonder where she is and what she's been doing? Brian goes to get her and she comes in and I'm holding Grace. HAHA! She'd been waiting outside the door wondering what all the yelling was for if I was just getting an epidural.  It was so fun having her be part of the experience.  Grace is now 4 days old and already I can see changes in her and how she looks.  She is doing a beautiful job of nursing and she is becoming normal for us to have her here.

Johanna (due Aug. 23rd) and I right after Grace was born

Can't get enough Grace

She is already changing our family for the better in many ways.

Martin feels the need to be by her side and "protect" her.  He did this when we brought Josiah home as well.

We tell Josiah to give Grace a hug and he gently lays his head on her. It's one of the sweetest things to watch as he is trying to adapt to this new little baby being around.