David and his Cousins (a growing tale)

So first there were two pregnant sisters...
This was taken back in February at my baby shower, right before David was born and Jacinta was about 30 weeks along with Brooklyn. Ah, life was simpler then!
Then there were three cousins...
David had a brief moment as the only baby around, so I'm glad we caught it on camera :)

And now there are 4 kids around!

Things sure seem busy when Jacinta and I get together. I'm so glad to have an older sister who is ahead of me in the mothering, so I can do some research and hands on practice. I think it will build gradually, so I really like seeing what's coming... solid food, potty training, talking... some day I suppose I'll say life is simple now :)

Our boy's excited to teach Baby Brooklyn the ropes...

First on her agenda -- get big! Brooklyn arrived 6 weeks early because Jacinta's appendix burst. She is growing all the time and doing pretty well. She likes hugs from her cousin (OK, I admit, we put his arm like that... but isn't it cute?)

Summer Fun for little David

Meeting Uncle Leon!

Leon came home from England for a visit and David finally got to meet him. Since Leon and Lucas are twins, we were interested to see how David would react to seeing somebody who looks so much like Daddy. He studied his new uncle for a while and decided he was different from Dad, but all in all, and OK guy. Uncle Leon even bought David a Soccer (or Football as the English say) outfit... He'll have to grow a little to fit into it :)

Swimming!

This was David's first time at the pool! We kicked off the weekend with a trip out to State Farm Park. David thought the water was alright, but didn't like the sun in his eyes, so we thought he could borrow some sunglasses... Doesn't he look cool?

David liked standing in the shallow water - his body isn't so hard to hold up!

We even tried back floating:

A sign of things to come... (a moment from David's 4th month)

Will he be an early walker? You tell me...

What a difference a year makes!

Hard to believe that time has gone so fast, but Lucas and I have been married a year today! Looking at Heather's Honeymoon pictures made me nostalgic and having a lovely picnic anniversary date (sans baby!) with my husband has only cemented in my mind how very blessed we are. After living 25 years apart, the one year we've lived together has been a joy.

Here are some of my favorite highlights: We've gone on countless walks, thrown a garage sale to combine our homes and weed out the duplicates, taken apart our bathroom and put it back together, seen the pregnancy test turn pink, listened to our son's first cry, enjoyed his first night without waking, cooked meals better than restaurants in our kitchen together, and enjoyed life with each other and each other's family and friends. I suppose I could keep going, but I'll stop there.

These are a few of my favorite things... (Tales from David's second month)

1. Sleeping

Being so very small still, 1 month old David slept through many of his exciting firsts...

Like his first plane ride (to Florida): And his first Easter (Um, Mom helped eat the candy):

And any restaurants we took him to (a definate perk to all the sleeping :) )

2. Crying

Although our baby is quite perfect, he's still a baby and sometimes tears are just all he has to communicate with.

2. Playing

Mom and Dad's faces are of particular interest. We've been working on getting him to hold a rattle, but he doesn't get it yet.

4. Yawn, more sleeping

By far the favorite activity....

Splish, splash, I was taking a bath (a tale of the first month)

After being soo bundled by his parents...

it's understandable that the first baths were kind of a traumatic experience. All that being carried through the air to the plastic tub and then the scary water splashing around just brought out a terrified look on little baby David. Honestly, I didn't like to do it either because of that scared face!

Lucas thankfully perservered until David learned that baths are just good, clean fun. (We'll see what he thinks once he discovers mud!)

Dramatic Entrance

I know it was a while ago, but here's my baby story:

I worked through Feb. and the baby was due in March (17th). Seemed like I'd have a nice break before he was born, but the doctor kept saying he would be born early. She was right! At 9AM on March 5th, my water broke (thank goodness I had quit working - can you imagine how embarassing that would have been??) but labor didn't start. I called Lucas at work and he said "Well, um thanks for calling me. This is exciting." He rushed home and after packing up some things, we went over to the hospital.

They said that my water had indeed broken and I was having contractions, but I couldn't feel them. I wanted to wait a while and see if things would move along naturally without the drugs they can do to speed that along. Well, my doctor said OK so we waited until 3pm to do the drugs. They gave me an IV with Pitosen but I still couldn't feel anything even though the monitor showed contractions. Finally, at 6pm, the doctor decided to up the dose and I started feeling things. It did not feel good. It kept getting worse, and then around 7pm things got very busy and David was born at 7:21pm.

He looked purplish to me, but the doctors and nurses said he was pretty pink for a newborn and he looked fine. Seemed like a long time before they would let me hold him, but Lucas got to be over there with him while they checked him over. Then I got a better look at him all wrapped up and cleaned off. He seemed so tiny! I was scared of doing something wrong. I remember the first night in the hospital, David woke up and made a little peep. I couldn't sleep so I had to check and make sure he was still breathing!

He's been breathing great and growing lots ever since. I'll promise I'll start putting recient stuff up soon, but I want to begin at the beginning :)

First comes Love, then comes Marriage, then comes a Baby in a baby carriage

First Comes Love



One summer day two years ago I was out mini-golfing with some girls from church when Amy (who had just joined the group) said I reminded her of a young man she used to babysit. She thought we'd make a nice pair. I was feeling bold so I gave her my number to pass along. I suppose Lucas was feeling bold too because he called me up and we decided to meet at a coffee shop. Things went well so we met again. By the third time we went out we were in love.

Then comes Marriage



So after dating about 4 months, one fateful day my car broke down. After Lucas' heroism in helping me get it to the mechanic, he offered me the most beautiful ring I'd ever seen and the opportunity to be his wife. Of course I accepted. We were married 6 months later on a lovely day in June. God has been so good to give us to eachother.










Then comes a Baby in a baby carriage

So then a few weeks after our honeymoon, we were delighted to find out that God had blessed us with a little baby on the way! Nine months of anticipation and discomfort later, we got to meet the cutest little baby I've ever had the pleasure of mothering, our baby David (5 lbs. 4 oz. born on March 5th, 2009)