Sweet memories of May

Apparently we have been busy this month although it didn't really feel like it. We had a get-together at my cousin's house. Btw, all those trees you see lining his driveway were ripped out by the tornado last weekend.

We also watched as Nora James learned to smile at us.

I like these two pictures because they are basically the same but the focus is on a different person in each one.

We also learned how to hold our baby the right way, supporting her neck.

This past weekend we went to Mississippi for my cousin's wedding. Since Jason's brothers live in the same

town where the wedding was held, his parents drove in on Sunday to spend the day with their children, in-laws and granddaughters.

You can't have too many toys.

Lily Karen

 The boys played a little football and Frisbee Golf.

 Elaina looked extra grown-up this particular day.

At one point in the afternoon, I silently pointed the camera at Claire. Even though no directions were given, she instinctively knew to pose. She would pause between poses so that I could snap a picture and as soon as she heard the shutter click she would strike another one. I was laughing so hard inside but just kept a straight face on the outside. I wanted to see how long she would keep posing. It turns out she'll go for a long while before getting bored or distracted.



Uncle Tommy taught Elaina how to throw a Frisbee and they seemed to have a good time playing together.

And, technically, this is a June moment but whatever...

The girls have to help me clean up after supper now and they are getting really good. Elaina sweeps the floor, Claire wipes the table and scrapes out the leftover food and Eily loads the dishwasher. I was proud of what the dining room and kitchen looked like this evening.

Don't forget to enter the contest!!!

http://bekahsacran.blogspot.com/2011/05/you-know-what-this-picture-means.html

(Or instead of clicking on the link you can just scroll down.)

You know what this picture means!!!

We were gone and now we are home. And for that reason, I am having a contest.

I will select a random winner from the correct entries. The winner will receive a $10 Starbucks gift card. I am hiding the entries until the time is up because I don't want any cheating. :) The contest will end on Thursday at 12pm.

Decipher the following paragraph:

DAD
EEL
AINA
LOVS
UOO
ELA
INA
ASP
RAWD
AVALL
PATEGS


Ready, set go!

Storms and Babies

Oh my goodness. What a night. We were up well past midnight watching the storm unfold.  It touched down in Ractliff and Etna and we have a lot of family in those towns.  Thank God for protecting them, for keeping them safe. My cousin, Matt, and his wife heard it go over their house and felt the house shake. Once it passed, he went outside and couldn't see the neighbor's house. He went to look for them and bring them back to his house so they would have a place to stay. It touched down on my Uncle Evan's land and he lost a window on his house, half of the roof of their "school house" and his I think the back half of his shop is gone. A tree fell on my other cousin's house. I haven't heard yet if our church sustained any damage but the main thing is that everyone is alive and no one was hurt. That tornado came so close to our house. It's always sad to see destruction from weather like what happened in Joplin but when it's this close to home, affecting people that you know, it takes on a whole different level of scary.

On to brighter and better news...

My older sister, Rachel, had her third little boy last night right before midnight. Ryan Mark is his name. The Mark is after my dad. He was 8 lbs and something ounces. I haven't heard any other details yet but I am going to the hospital this afternoon and will find out the story. Bet that was fun, having a baby during tornado weather.

I'm here, I'm just very, very busy. We have put our house back on the market and I have been trying to repaint and make pretty.  I'm also super exhausted. (Have I mentioned that before?) I promise at some point I will start posting often again.

Elaina's school books have been coming in and it's so exciting and fun to look at everything. Do you want to know what they are? Tell me if you do and I'll write a post about it.

Hey! Blogger's working again!

We've been adjusting rather well to having another family member. Some days are harder than others but that's to be expected. Nora James is growing like a weed despite the fact that she seems to spit up her entire meal every time she eats.  

The weather has been pleasant so I've had the girls playing outside a lot.

Daddy has been a huge help with the baby. Every morning I wake him up around 7 and he and Nora James go to the couch and cuddle together and I get back in bed.

The other day, Jason needed a break from painting so we all packed up and headed to a little park in our town.

NJ was being a little too rambunctious as you can tell from the picture below.

Making wishes...

"Practicing gymnastics"

Complete happiness

Postpartum belly

This is my 600th post.

I'm so tired. I sat down to check something on the computer and my body weight is so heavy that I can't get up. I want to. I just can't.

Everyone is good.

Everyone is happy.

My brain is too tired to think of anything else to write.

Goodbye. Snore.

Happy 3rd Birthday to Eily!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Shhh. Do you hear that?

It's silence.

Mom took the three older girls to her house to stay the night tonight so it's just me and Baby here. She's sacked out on a mattress on the floor in the living room and in a few minutes I'm going to do the same on the couch. There's nothing like a nap at five in the afternoon.

We are repainting bedrooms (thus the mattress on the floor) and the chaos of furniture and toys everywhere is getting to me just a little bit. That and the fact that Jason has been gone for fifteen days. I'm just weary of all the change and I'm sure the girls are too. Going to Nanny's house will be a nice little break from the topsy-turvyness of their home.

As for Nora, she's doing great and is the cutest thing you'll ever see. She looks nothing like her picture on the side of the page but my camera broke and Jason has the good camera with him. I know! What a terrible time to not be able to take pictures but I will try to get a replacement photo posted as soon as I can. Nora had her two week check up this week and she's grown two inches and gained a pound. She already can't wear newborn diapers and some of her newborn-sized clothing. I hate that Jason missed her super tiny stage. He loves that stage so much.
.
But he's finally coming home and we only have one room left to paint and everything will become normal once again just like it always does. And then I'll want to have another baby. HA! Just kidding. As happy as I am every time I have a baby, I know that I am done. And it feels nice to have closure on that part of life. I'm excited to just concentrate on the the raising and nurturing aspect of parenting.

Eily turns three tomorrow. Be looking for her birthday montage.

This is how we labor in the 21st century.

I love

And of course we can't forget to post this beauty

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What April has held for us so far...

 Nana's 88th birthday party,

Preparing for Nora's birth,

and actually meeting Nora.

This was a painting that Jason did for the hospital where I had Nora. We snapped a photo as we were leaving.

Miss Nora

We did it, we two.  It was excruciatingly painful and now I'm very sleepy, but we did it.

I'm too tired to type much so here are some stats:

Nora James
7lbs 11oz
19 inches long
Blondie
GREAT nurser
Loud squaller
Has her Daddy's nose
Needs to work on her burping skills

Birth:
Natural
Lasted about 6.5 hours
Would totally do it again if I had to but don't ever plan on it
Elaina was allowed to watch her sister be born. It was special. She did great.
Baby didn't breathe right away. They had to use the balloon pump to get her yelling. It was a little tense. Thank the Lord that she's fine and it wasn't more serious.

We love her. All of us. Even Pee Wee hasn't been jealous. Yet.

First glimpses

 Claire described her to her Bebe as a very tight blanket with a hat.

Nora James made her debut at 2:35 yesterday afternoon. Pictures will be posted before too long.

Baby's a comin'!

Heading off to the hospital soon. I'll let you know what we get out of all this. :)

Little Baby Jack went to Heaven this afternoon. Please keep his family in your prayers.

Prayer Request

First off, let me just tell you to ignore that whiny hiney post below. I have never been more thankful to have my baby tucked safe inside my belly.

Shortly after I wrote the previous post I received another phone call. Baby Jack was fine for four hours. He was alert, attentive, a great nurser and just an all around ok baby. Then he had what they believe was a stroke. He stopped breathing and he is now at a hospital doing a cooling treatment to try and stop brain damage. He still has yet to breathe on his own. They are going to keep cooling his brain for 3 days and after that, if he still hasn't responded, they will take him off life support. They have no idea what caused this because the doctors have only seen babies have strokes after high trauma births and his birth was the exact opposite of that.
I cannot imagine what Susanna and her husband are going through. Please pray for a miracle for little Jack and for comfort for his parents and the extended family.