Christmas 2012

I love Christmas time, I love family upon family upon family moments together. I love twinkling lights, my Christmas tree, and a fire in the fireplace. I will say this year was a little tough because we were all fighting colds and therefore fighting to keep my mind focused on the joy and all the good around me. We are so lucky that our families live within 20 min of us and within 10 min of each other but I also have this dream that next year we will have a home where we can entertain and we won't have to leave and pack up our kids at all :) A girl can hope... but for now here is our time in pictures.

playing in her new tent

our handsome boy sitting up in his new chair

she likes to sing him songs

she loves her new scooter

my heart

he melts me

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

4 Months

Garrett,

You are 4 months and entering some of my favorite baby stages. You are talking and making noise all the time, you even laughed once after hitting yourself in the head with a toy, apparantly it didn't hurt. I can't wait for more of those sweet giggles.

You love your giraffe snuggly and we named him Joe. You also love your scrunchy Elephant with teether feet, we don't have a name for him yet. You roll over easily from front to back and from back to your side, you will be rolling all the way over oh so soon. You have tried out your Einstein jumper for about 10-15 minutes at a time and it's fun to watch you play and get excited.

You have tried rice cereal now and get it once a day, you are doing really well with it and I'm oh so proud of you. You still aren't sleeping through the night but you've skipped your 12-2 a.m. wake up and now wake up somewhere around 4 a.m.

You are wearing some 6-9 month clothes now and are out of your one piece 3-6 month clothes. I can't believe we are already getting there. You are growing and developing every single day and it takes my breath away. I never want to wish time away but the more you notice your sister the more I'm excited for you to get to know her and become playmates.

6 lbs. 6 oz

25 inches long

We are about to celebrate your first Christmas and so far the Christmas lights make you so happy, you love to watch them. We can't wait to celebrate with you here in our arms especially since I announced to our family that we were pregnant with you last Christmas. What a blessing you are to us!!

I love you sweet boy and your heart melting smile!

Love,
Mommy

Family Pictures as 4

Just a little peek at our fun session with Alicia who has been our photographer since our engagement photos almost 6 years ago! We love that she has been able to watch our family grow.  I love our growing family and the blessing each of them are in my life, my husband for doing this crazy life with me and our sweet children for giving me the best gift of being a mother.

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!!

Haiti with Visiting Orphans

So I just signed up for a mission trip, my first mission trip since the summer after I graduated high school. To say I'm excited is an understatement. Going and doing is something that God has been whispering to me and if I'm honest sometimes yelling at me but I kept saying not this year, maybe next year when the kids are a little older, oops I'm pregnant can't go this year or too early next year because he will be so little still. Oh my the excuses just kept coming.

I decided to start looking at 2013 dates with Visiting Orphans. I really wanted to go to Africa, since Matt and I have been looking into adoption from there but the trips there were just too long for my mamma heart to be away from my babies. So we kept looking and found a trip to Haiti right before the holidays next year.

So my sister and I (yes my best friend is coming with  me!!) will be packing up and heading to Haiti a year from now, next November 1.

my beautiful sister

I am excited to head to Haiti, my cousin went this past summer and my sister in law has been a couple times. Our World Vision child lives in Haiti, my heart is there too and I just needed to open up my mind to that possiblity and there it was the perfect time for us to go!

You will hear more as we start planning and fundraising next year but for now I am already praying for those we will be in touch with in our time there and for our team that I do not even know yet. I am nervous and excited and ready to GO and LOVE these people.

#IndyBoom

I'm not sure how far this story spread nationally but my little side of town in Indianapolis experienced quite the tragic incident this weekend. At about 11 p.m. my husband called me to see if felt that huge boom, a boom that felt like an explosion and shook our house. I was out downtown on my way to celebrate a friends bachelorette party and didn't feel what he was talking about.

We soon started hearing through instagram, facebook and twitter about an explosion in a neighborhood only a few miles from my house. TV's were on in the bars but no sound obviously so we could only watch the devistation and try and check on our friends and family through text and facebook (where would we be without social media)

This explosion was massive, completely destroying two homes (think blown to pieces and off of their foundations) and damaging many more to the point that they cannot be lived in, many will have to be torn down and rebuilt. This neighborhood has a lot of recovery ahead.

via

via

We know of many families that live in this neighborhood and in a way I feel guilty that I was gone from my family, guilty that if it had been closer to home I would not have been with them. Guilty that I was not with my husband and children when the news started coming in about what happened. It's hard to grasp just how quickly everything can change in this life. Our next breath is not guaranteed, so hug your kids a little tighter tell your husband or wife how much you love them.

The hope and comfort in all this is watching our community rally to volunteer and help in any way possible to care for these families. Praying for those mourning the loss of two lives today and for those displaced and waiting for the next steps. God does not forget us or those who are suffering.

November

November is National Adoption Month, something that was brand new to me only 2 Novembers ago, now it's something I hold close to my heart. Just for fun, here is a video I wanted to share in honor of this special month and all the special kids out there waiting for their forever family.



Could you be the answer to a prayer??

3 Months

Garrett,

You are 3 months old and oh so handsome. I love that God chose you for our family. You are growing and discovering things everyday.

We set you in your bumbo for the first time while we ate dinner the other night and you cried at first, it was weird I know, mommy took her hands away but you were still sitting up, how did that work? But then you got the hang of it for a little bit, we can't leave you in there very long because your head is kind of big and still droops after too long.

You are trying so hard to role from your tummy to your back but that dang other arm just gets in the way, it will happen soon and I hope I get to witness it because it will be so funny to see your face when your world flips over on you.

You talk talk talk to us all the time and I love it, you notice your sister so much lately, she just said the other day "mommy he laughing at me" you weren't laughing "at" her you just couldn't take your eyes off her with this huge smile on your face. I don't blame you she's pretty entertaining.

You love eating your hands now and we find them in your mouth all the time, I keep trying to introduce you to new toys but your hands are your favorite. 

You are in 3-6 month clothes and 2 diapers. You still aren't sleeping through the night which is making it kind of hard to hang in there for a full day at work but I'm still hoping you will get that figured out soon.

I love you sweet boy and can't wait to watch your personality blossom, right now you are a pretty happy little boy with a smile that can melt anyone's heart.

Love you sooooo much,
Mommy