One Month Old

Ruth is one month old now. So much has happened since I last blogged..so much I want to share..but I just haven't found the time. Now with MOPS starting in just a few weeks, I'm trying to figure out where to fit that into my life. I'm so tired. Ruth does sleep pretty well at night..once we get her to sleep..which isn't usually until 11:30 or 12midnight. Then she wakes up twice to nurse and gets up in the morning about 8:30. The last 2 nights the other 2 have taken turns waking up too. It just makes for long nights and even longer days. We had a busy week last week going to the fair, doctors appointments, and swimming. This week is looking a little quieter..which is good since it is so hot and I don't like being outside when it is this warm. I'm thankful for our air conditioner which makes our house tollerable! :)

She's Here!!!

Ruth Leah was welcomed into our family last week! She weighed 8lbs 10 1/2oz and is 20inches long. Isaac and Grace can't get enough of her. We are slowly adjusting to being a family of 5 and to life with a newborn again! After all we went through last September, we are just so thankful to have our healthy baby girl here with us! :)

Still Here...

Wow.. I can't believe it has been over a month since I blogged! So much has happened these last few weeks that I want to blog about... but we've been so busy doing them that I haven't had the time to sit and blog! It doesn't help that I've been nesting and trying to get the house ready to welcome our new little one. We had to switch Francis' office in to our bedroom, move Grace to Francis' office, and then set up the nursery in Grace's old room. I think finally these last few days we have all 3 rooms the way we want them for now. We've also been on vacation the last 2 weeks. We stayed home this time for various reason (finances, too late in pregnancy to travel, etc).. but have managed to have an incredibly fun and relaxing time. Besides finding a lot of fun things to do in the area (all of which I plan to blog about soon!)... we were also able to spend most of the afternoon doing the things around the house that needed to get worked on while Grace took her nap. It really has worked out wonderfully this time (last year Francis ended up having to do a funeral during his vacation). So... that is the very shortened version of where I've been, what I've been doing. I will try and get a few more exciting posts with pictures very soon! :)

My 1st Nephew!!

I'm an aunt again and so excited!!! Elijah Payton was born this morning. He is 7lbs 9oz and 21 inches long. He looks just like his big sister! I can't wait to see him in person! Congrats to Nah, Nate, and Hannah!!! :)

30th Birthday.. A bust!

Well, atleast I'll be able to say my 30th birthday was unforgetable...I just wish it was for more fun reasons then it was! :) The entire week leading up to the big day was rough with hubby out of town, 2 sick kids (at 2 different times thankfully), and a sick hubby (when he got home). My birthday kind of snuck up on me. I woke up to a nicely decorated kitchen (balloons and 30 signs) and Francis making fat free waffles to enjoy. Unfortunately, before I could enjoy my breakfast we were flying out the door to take Grace to the pediatricians office. What an ordeal that was. We thought she might have a urinary tract infection. We were there for 2 hours trying to get her to pee in a cup, to no avail. Finally, they had to use a catheter to get a sample..that was so tramatic..only to find out that it isn't an infection after all. It's been a long week of worrying and wondering if they need to go to the doctors or not...it's a lot of mental stress. Anyway... since she isn't feeling well, we weren't able to go out to supper last night either. When Francis and I finally got to bed last night we talked about how we were just going to reschedule my birthday to next week and have a do-over! :) Today, I found out that Francis had planned a surprise birthday party with some friends..but those plans had to be changed earlier this week because of how sick my family is. It was then just going to be the girls taking me out to supper tonight...but that has been called off now too, because Grace just isn't feeling well. I'm a little disappointed..but I'm glad I can be here for my sickies. I'm especially greatful that I have gotten the bug yet so that I can be there 100% for the ones who need me. I keep praying that I stay healthy long enough for them to all be better!! So, that is my 30th birthday tale.. I guess it is fitting in some ways since I really wasn't looking forward to this one. Even Isaac and Grace knew that I didn't want to turn 30... I keep telling them it was going to be my 29+1 birthday :) I leave you with one of the only pictures I took on my birthday... kind of sums it all up!

Lilac Festival 2009

The 2nd week of May (or 3rd depending on the year) has been one of our busiest for the last few years. This was the 5th year that we headed to Rochester's annual Lilac Festival. As always, the lilacs were gorgeous and smelled so good! As always, I took a ton of pictures (198 to be exact, not all of the lilacs, but according to Francis 190 of them were!!!). We went on Monday, the day after mother's day. The kids did amazingly well considering how busy the day before was. They had a blast running through the bushes and smelling the lilacs. They also enjoyed going on a few rides before heading home. There isn’t much to say about each picture… but I hope you enjoy them!


This one shows how big some of the "bushes" really are!

Loved the white bush in between the 2 purple ones:

Isaac smelling the first of many lilacs:

Pink Lilacs:

Grace's turn to smell:

Too Cute:

Francis took this one... I like how it shows the pathway through the lilacs:

Purple and White Lilacs:

Sweet Girl:

This was a very different looking lilac bush with it's long stems of flowers:

First time we've ever seen these yellow lilacs..they looked like butter:

My favorite picture:

This was a very white lilac...so pure:

Love this picture too:

and finally, the rides! :)

Momma's Day 2009

Alright... time to play catch up.. I hope! :) On Mother's Day, Francis, Isaac, and Grace made me a beautiful video that I got to watch before heading to church.



The kids and I only stayed at church for the 1st part and quickly came back home to get ready for the rest of our day...we were heading to spend a Day Out With Thomas for our 3rd year in a row.



It was a pretty eventful trip out there. I had been having some signifcant pain in my side from the pregnancy. The most pain came when I had to sit for any length of time... so about 1/2 way into the 1 1/2 hour trip we decided I should try laying down in the back seat. Yeah... that lasted about 10 minutes with my face in a grocery bag emptying my stomach!!! I've gotten car sick my whole life.. but I haven't been anywhere but the front seat of a car in so long I kind of forgot how bad it really is! I may have tramatized Isaac and Grace... they keep bringing it up over and over again! :) So, anyway.. we arrived and as we got out of the car Thomas was coming down the track... it was very exciting! :)

The weather wasn't the best... it only got to be about 55 degress... but it didn't rain at all, so we were thankful.

We had fun taking silly pictures,

getting faces painted,

and getting pictures with Sir Topham Hatt and Thomas.

Grace didn't want anything to do with Sir Topham Hatt... which is funny because last year she was the one in the picture and we couldn't convince Isaac to go near him at all... funny how their personalities chance year to year! :) We then went inside (out of the cold) and listened to a Thomas story being read and watched a Thomas video. They had fun looking at all the decorations set up outside and running through the maze that was set up.

In no time it was their turn to ride on Thomas. It was so quiet this year that they were able to be the first ones in line for the first car of the train. That put them as close to Thomas as they could get! :) The had a lot of fun on the ride...there isn't much to look at... they came back excited to share what they had seen.

And all too soon it was time for us to leave.

Isaac and Grace were both tired from the long day... Grace even fell asleep for part of the ride back.

We stopped for supper at Red Robin (one of the few places I can go to with all of my restrictions right now) and then came home for the night.

We had a very fun and memorable day together. It's amazing that next year there will be one more little one to love! :)