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GratiTuesday: Thankful for my Family

I know it has been an incredibly long time since I have posted.  So much has happened that I can't recite it all in one post but I can join the group of bloggers that express something they are grateful for on Tuesdays.

As I write this I am missing two of the most important men in my life.  Eric flew out early this morning for a business trip to CT.  He will be back late tonight and I will get to hold him in my arms again.  We dropped off out oldest son Andy this weekend at his Grandma Becky's house and he is enjoying some Grandma only time.  He is also getting to spend time with some of his cousins that he rarely gets to see which I know he is loving.

I am thankful for the wonderful family in my life who have helped in some way or another to shape me into the person I am today.  Most importantly I am thankful for my heavenly Father who does the most shaping.  I am thankful he doesn't give up when a part of me is harder to shape than others.

I am thankful for three men in my life that treat me like a queen! (Eric, Andy and Zach - I love you guys!)

Will try to blog more often if anything  to start journaling my thoughts and catching up on my photos.

Until then, God bless!

Love, Stephany

My Sweet Boys

Things are starting to go very nicely here.  My wonderful husband ordered us new windows that are being installed as I type.  He is also working on updating the fort for the boys so there won’t be anymore splinters (at least for the next year or so).  I have been working on planning a birthday party for Andrew who is going to be 6 years old. I can’t believe it.  He is such a great child.  He can bring me lots of joy when he is in the right mood.  Today he is at school and it is just me and Daddy at home with Zach.

I got to go and get Andy from school today while daddy stayed home with Zach napping.  Andy’s PE teacher told be he was being silly in class today and that all the other kids followed his example.  He loves to be silly and it is hard for him to understand when is not okay to be silly.  I think he is really starting to look forward to summer break.  Not sure how ready I am for that though.  Andy has been taking swimming lessons and will continue until he is able to swim the length of the pool and back without any trouble.  He is doing fantastic.  I can’t wait to see what progress he will make in the month of April.  Even though he and I have difficulty understanding each other I still would not trade him for the world.

Zach is starting to roll over from his back to his tummy now.  He has been rolling from his tummy to back for about a month or so but yesterday he started rolling back to tummy.  He still is not a fan of tummy time though.  Zach is also working on and making great strides toward being able to sit unassisted.  He is really starting to play with toys now and that makes things a little easier.  Now the entertaining toys can be of some entertaining.  We tried green beans a few days ago and Zach was not a fan.  We had to stop the cereal because it was constipating him.  He doesn’t seem to care for juice either unless he is super hungry.  I was looking at pictures of Zach when he was born and saw so many changes in the last five months.  He drools a lot and one would think that he was teething but I haven’t found anything.  Also he insists on having his thumb to suck on over his pacifier.  I have tried to discourage that but it works for him when we don’t get there to put the pacifier in.

It has been a real treat to have Eric home today.  We saw just enough of one another that it didn’t become too much.  It reminds me of how very blessed I am to have such a great husband, who doesn’t have to travel (at the present time), loves his job but more importantly loves his family very much.  I love you sweetie! ;)

Here are a few pictures of the family this past month.  Have a blessed week, Stephany

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Things can run somewhat smooth…

When you live by a routine.  Zach has been sleeping really well for the past 3/4 of the month and he goes right to sleep when we lay him down.  I think I am actually understanding his queues better than I did with Andy.  He is growing like a weed.  At his 4 month appointment he weighed 15.8 pounds, he was 24 3/4 inches long and his head was 48.3 cm.  The doctor told us that he was going to be pretty smart from the size of his noggin, lol.  I guess large heads run in the family.  Thankfully he came 3 weeks early otherwise we might have had to have another emergency c-section. 

Some new things going on with Zach: he is starting to roll over, has more head control and lifting during tummy time, he’s not a fan of cereal or water yet, he is starting to like playing with certain toys (he likes his monkey maracas from Aunt Shela).  He loves to have his diaper changed, he will just smile and coo away at whoever is changing his diaper.  He is already wearing his 6-9 month clothes and some of that is too small.  He is really beginning to suck his fingers (more so his thumb) rather than his pacifier.  When we take his thumb out of his mouth you hear this huge popping sound and then see his little face squench up in this sad pout and then a blood curdling cry.  He doesn’t like people to take his thumb away.  I don’t know if we are going to win this battle because even when I put mittens on his hands he finds a way to get one off and immediately sticks that thumb in his mouth.

Andy gets to start swim lessons and Lego club today.  Lego club is done through his school and then we are doing the swim lessons through the YMCA.  Today was also crazy hair day at school so Andy wanted a mohawk.  It turned out really cool but not something I want to see all the time, lol.  He is doing well in school but still has some attention issues.

I need to organize my photos so I can get them on here.  Our wireless router does not seem to be working at this time so that will slow down any organizing until I can ask Eric to fix it.

That’s it for now but I will try to post the pictures of Andy’s mohawk soon.

Shining God’s light, Stephany

Where is the time going?

I can’t believe that our baby Zachary is 3 1/2 months old already.  Things are starting to get somewhat normal around here and I’m sure they will change again very soon.  Zach is growing so well and big brother Andy is really starting to become a great helper.  Andy loves holding Zach and he even got the chance to feed and burp him.  I don’t know if diaper changing will be on the list of things he can do besides dumping the diaper or getting me what I need during a diaper change for Zach.

I went and got my hair cut and highlighted last week and I love it so much.  It was definitely well worth what was paid.  The time for a change was over-due.  All the men in my life really love it (Eric, Andy and Zach).     

What a beautiful snow we had this past week and weekend.  Andy got to play in the snow twice (once Thursday and once Friday) having snowball fights and building snowmen.  Zach even got to go out in the snow and he seemed to like it.         

Zach is also starting to roll to his side from his back, can sit up better when put in the bumbo, smiles very big when you change his poopy diaper, getting better at tummy time.  He has great control of his head and even tries to sit up when he is being fed.  He is one week shy of 4 months old and then we get to try cereal.  He is getting so big.  I don’t remember Andy getting this big so early.  Yes, I know every baby is different.  I am thankful for that.  Both of my boys have different personalities and I love them both very much.

Andy is really taking an interest in pictures.  Right now he has my new camera and he is just snapping away at things and people around the house.  He just showed me a picture of the toilet and that made me a little nervous.  We are going to try and get him signed up for spring soccer with Upwards to get some of his energy used up in an outside activity.  He loves playing on the computer and the Wii.  We really have to limit those though.

Well I think I will add some pictures and call it a post! Have a great day and God bless,

Stephany

Christmas has come and gone and

We are still trying to remember the reason for the season. Our plans for Christmas were to go to Oklahoma to visit with family and on Christmas morning we were going to have a birthday party for Jesus as a family. Well we made it to Oklahoma but from there plans got changed up. We didn’t realize that we were going to be in a blizzard while there. We stayed at my mom’s house and were so thankful for the warmth and electricity. Andy stayed at my sister’s house to play with his cousins and we kept Zach with us.

Eric and I got to shovel snow together and then try to get my mom’s car unstuck from the parking lot where we had gotten stuck in a snow drift the day before. How’s that for a Christmas present. There were some very wonderful people who helped us with the car and also transportation. All the snow really was beautiful but we didn’t get to enjoy it because we were trying to get our family back together and make it anywhere safely without getting stuck.

Now that its a new year we are excited about what is in store. Eric traded in our 2-door Jeep Wrangler yesterday for a 4-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. Now we can ride together as a family in the Jeep. Yea!

Here are some pictures from our Christmas vacation. Hope you enjoy them. One day I will get to scrap again.

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Have a blessed day, Stephany

Getting ready for Christmas and getting back on a routine.

Christmas time is such a blessed time to remember the real reason for this season. Jesus is the reason we celebrate! One thing I am finding this year though is how to teach Andy that this season is about giving and not receiving. Yes, there will be presents for the boys but I don’t want that to be their focus.

I am also trying to start a routine with Zach in regards to when he eats, plays and sleeps. Yesterday he decided that anything goes and we stayed up until about 12:30 this morning. As tired as I am I still try to remember what a blessing he is in our lives and I just have to smile. Sometimes I just start to weep at all the blessings I have. God is so good to us!

We are heading to visit family over the Christmas break and I am a little nervous about all the things we need to pack to take with us. I really should be making myself a list so I don’t forget anything for baby Zach or any of the rest of my family for that matter.

This Saturday I will be celebrating my 11th wedding anniversary with the most wonderful man I know. Technically, we are going to celebrate on Friday but our day is Saturday. I am so excited because we are giving each other a house remodel project. By remodel I mean we are installing a new back door on the house and replacing the wood trim that the previous owners’ dogs chewed up. Eric has been wanting to replace that since we moved in 2 1/2 years ago. I wanted to replace the door because I am tired of Andy slamming it closed when he goes out and come in. It always makes the blinds close and it really has become annoying to me.

Well, I hear the wee babe crying so I will go and answer his call. Maybe next time I can have some pictures to put up to show how much he is growing.

Love, Stephany