Two Months Old....

Yesterday was Jed's brother Ryan's birthday (Happy Birthday Ryan!) and Gracie's two month birthday.

I can hardly believe she is already two months old. I have so many adventures to yet post here on my blog...more of Grandma Nila's visit to us, our family reunion with my side of our family, etc, but for now I thought I would at least post these darling pictures that my dear friend Shelby took and tell you about my favorite thing about having a two month old (and no it is not that she sleeps 6 to 7 hour stretches...although that is a close second)....Our current favorite past time is watching her smile. One of the other kids will make her smile and then announce it to the other two who will come running to check it out and get in on the action. Of course it usually becomes a fight over who can make her smile the biggest and the poor baby gets caught in the middle and usually ends up crying. Such is life when you are #4 in this family. :)

Blessing Grace

Jed's Mom was able to come visit us for a long weekend and just left this morning (boo-hoo!). We decided to take advantage of this time with family in town and we blessed Gracie in church yesterday. It was a beautiful day and Jed gave her a lovely blessing of health, understanding, and a desire to do good, make wise choices and to stand in holy places. Of course that is a very brief summary. The kids were all excited that it was her turn for a blessing and loved having Grandma tell them all about their own special blessing days. After church we enjoyed the afternoon and evening as a family: eating good food, playing legos, sitting outside chatting and of course taking more pictures of our girl.
My Great-Aunt Kathleen was able to attend also, so both Jed and I had family at the blessing. Of course we missed having the rest of our family, but we definitely felt loved and celebrated.

Our Kiddos Today...

Four weeks and counting...

Gracie has now been with our family for four weeks--Crazy! How do I recap all that has taken place in our family in four weeks? I'll do my best..Nana: My mom was here for almost two weeks. Unfortunately for her, just a few days after arriving she caught a terrible cold from Kate. Kate is so good at sharing! She still managed to make meals, fold laundry, change diapers and sew some cool Transformer/Scooby-Doo bags with the boys.The fourth of July: The kids spent the morning of the fourth playing outside and attacking their dad with water balloons. Then we actually ventured out of the house for a bbq and fireworks with friends. I just love the 4th of July. It is a holiday that I have many fond memories of from my childhood. Hopefully our kids will also have fun memories of this day.

Mary Jane: A few days before my mom was set to leave we learned that the baby that my sister-in-law, Ashley, and my brother, Matt, were expecting had died. She delivered the baby on July 10th and my Mom flew out on the 11th to be with them. We were all amazed at the strength and faith of Matt and Ashley as they have come together in the knowledge that they will see little Mary Jane again one day. Of course we feel grateful to have Gracie here with us as we have shared in sorrow with them. We love you Matt and Ashley.
Annie: Week four and Owen and Davis continue to call Gracie, "Annie". This poor confused child. I actually have a good laugh as I sit and listen to Kate debate with them about her name. "Annie is crying"...."No! Gayce!"...."Annie is awake!"..."No! Gayce!"..."Where is Annie?"..."No! Gayce!" Man, I love that girl!

Davis does still refer to her as "our brand new baby" as well.

Ben and Jerry: The first day I was alone with the kids on my own I declared it "official quiet time for all" around 2:00 p.m. Once all the little people were in their rooms I stood in the kitchen and ate Ben and Jerry ice cream out of the carton. I kept telling myself that I could do this and hopefully would not have to rely on Ben and Jerry every day to get me through. Thank goodness they were there when I needed them! God bless Ben and Jerry.Open House at the Fire Station: Our town had an Open House to celebrate the opening of a couple of new fire stations. It was a great event...one of those things you go to and leave saying, "I love this town!" The kids were able to climb on and in the fire trucks, police cars, a SWAT truck, eat hot dogs and ice cream, collect balloons, stickers and pencils, watch the Jaws of Life tear into a car and a demonstration of a police dog taking down a "bad guy" and finally...spray a fire hose. Does it get better than all of that?

Sisters: Up until today, I have stayed home with the girls from church. I will admit I have loved this time and of course have used it to take a few pictures along with reading stories, baking cookies, napping and playing with dolls. I hope these sisters will always love each other as I loved my sister.

Introducing little Gracie...

Sorry for being delayed with the photos and details, but little Gracie is here safe and sound!

Last Saturday was Kate's birthday and I started having more significant contractions than I had been experiencing. Really I just wanted to make it to the 28th, so that they could have different birthdays. That night I was up a lot with contractions and had them off and on throughout the next morning and afternoon. At the prodding of some persuasive friends I called my Doc (Dr Cohen--love her!) and asked if she was going to be at the hospital if I could have her strip my membranes to speed things up (she had offered to do this before and I knew that she was on call). Well, to my surprise she said, "Why don't we just head down there now, I'll break your water and we'll have a baby tonight?" "Uh, okay", I said. Beth and Shae had taken our kids to their home for the night and off we went. Basically, they checked me (I was at a 3 and 50%), got me in a room, I had my epidural, Dr Cohen came in, broke my water and two hours later I was ready to push. Seriously, this was the most surreal, laid back birthing experience yet. IT WAS AWESOME. We did have a little hiccup in that a respiratory therapist had to be on hand because they thought that Gracie had possibly swallowed some of the miconium, but it ended up being a false alarm...whew!
So, at 12:23 a.m. on June 29th our beautiful dark haired baby entered the world. She weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and looks A LOT like her handsome daddy's family. After much discussion we finally settled on the name Grace (Gracie) Jeanne. Owen still refuses to call her anything but "Annie" (from The Magic Treehouse books) and Davis thought we should have named her "Bergert" ("It is totally a girl name and means 'baby' in Spanish," he says.), but we'll see how long that lasts. Kate thinks she is the best toy we have ever gotten her and Davis is fascinated with letting us know when "It is AWAKE! Oh, how cute! Our new baby is awake."

We'll keep you posted on our life with little Gracie...

Happy Birthday Katerbug!

Today our spunky, beautiful, determined, happy Kate is TWO! I can hardly believe it. Kate adds so much love and life to our home and family. We love to watch her dance and chat away about everything. Her favorite thing to talk about...the color pink! How our hearts melt when she blows kisses and how we laugh when she joins in on the wrestling. Happy Birthday Katerbug! We love you!

My 29th Birthday...for the fourth time!

Here is a quick recap on my birthday last week...above you see the face that woke me up in the morning. I love that face...
As soon as Davis woke up he came and gave me a big hug and said, "I Know it's your birthday!" Like he had discovered and remembered some deep dark secret. Then the kids went to work...
First they helped Jed fix breakfast before he left for work...cereal and toast...YUM! Owen even remembered to put out our special birthday cup. Too bad nobody told him that it was really dusty and should have been washed out before he poured the juice...of course I just smiled and drank dusty juice...Gotta love it!
Then the kids set up game after game because they just knew that I would love to play games with them all morning. My favorite was Twister! Look at the previous post for a reminder of why this is humorous. Needless to say, I was the official spinner.

Jed's office had a special lunch for me and showered me with gifts...we have the world's greatest staff! Thank you to Erika for watching my kids so that I could go and be pampered.

In the evening we took the boys to see "Up". One of my favorite things to do is watch my kids and their excitement at the movies. Is there anything better than hearing them laugh out loud???? Thank you to Loretta for spoiling Kate during this time and making her feel special too.

Finally the night ended with cake and presents. Thank you to all of you who thought of me with emails, phone calls, cards, gifts, etc. I felt very loved!!! I love being 29...again. :)