Monday, October 8, 2012

11 Days Old & 25 months and 3 days

  We have a new addition to our family! Sweet Adelyn Paige joined us on September 27th at 7:28 in the morning. It was the most beautiful birth (in addition to Peyton's!) and quick labor (not Peyton's!). I was so blessed to have an incredible team of midwives who helped me achieve my goal of having a home birth.  I also had an incredible support team of my wonderful husband and sister and mother to encourage me to keep going.  Under 4 hours of labor and she was here. It was simply astounding and then I got to snuggle up in my own bed. Best. Idea. Ever.  Here's a snapshot minutes after giving birth.
 Gabe was home for 10 days and spent the majority of his time with sweet Peyton. She got a lot of daddy time and got to go on dates all week with him.  They went to the Science Center three times, a Puppet Show, the park, the grocery store (for cookies!), swimming, the mall. He was amazing with her all week and allowing me time to recuperate and get my strength back.  I'm thankful for such a wonderful husband who selflessly helped in so many ways. We are really going to miss him going back to work!










 My sister, Alisha, was also here for 2 1/2 weeks and was such a huge help to me before Adelyn was here and after her birth. It was such a joy for me to share that special time with my best friend.  I hate that she lives so far away, but we are committed to seeing each other every few months so our kids will know each other.  Miss her so much already!!
  Now, it's back to work for Gabe and time for me to learn how to do life with two sweet little girls.  I'm thankful for such wonderful family and friends to support me along the way.  Couldn't do it without them!!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Here, There and Everywhere

Well, days go by and I haven't blogged. Here's a recap from the last 6 weeks.

After we got home from The Keys, I went to Kansas with Peyton for a visit to see Tante Lil. They moved to Kansas in March and we got to go see their new life out there.  I was a little nervous about flying with a toddler and being 25 weeks pregnant, but imagine this, my child was perfect. She even got her own seat on the connecting flight from Atlanta to Wichita. She fell asleep as soon as we left the ground and slept until we were landing in Kansas. A-MAZING!  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of good pictures from the trip, but check out Alisha's page and you can see some good ones that Mia took, Stinemetz Family blog.  We had a wonderful time staying at Tante's and doing lots of yummy cooking, going for walks, playing in the pool and watching LOTS of girly movies after the kids all went to bed. Peyti LOVES her Tante and the kids and it was so good to rekindle their cousinness. Here's one video I took of the kids playing outside in the crazy, Kansas wind. It's loud, be forewarned that you'll want to turn your volume down.



After Kansas we came home and had 6 weeks of Summer Camp at Quest Kids Academy for me and Winter Park Presbyterian Church for Peyti.  I can't say that Peyti loved it, well at least the dropping off part each morning. She would cry every day I dropped her off and it would break my heart, but by the time I picked her up she was all smiles and kissing her teacher good-bye.  Now that it ended on Friday, we will be home indefinitely (yay, Daddy for working hard for us!!) and awaiting Baby Adelyn's arrival.

Throughout the summer we did have a few pictures that captured some fun times. Here are the highlights.

We went to the beach.


We ate ice cream.




We drank smoothies with our bestie, Hartz. He's a favorite of many of the girls, so she's got her work cut out.



We celebrated the 4th at Nana and Papa's and got our first war wound. 4 weeks later, we're still kissing this long-gone boo boo.






We played with Daddy.



We played at the park.




Mommy got big and pregnant. 30 weeks here.


We played at Nana and Papa's and especially loved their pool.



Daddy taught Peyt how to draw on herself.


We celebrated our good friends' birthday.





And we got to meet sweet Nola Jo on her birthday!


So, that's us in a big nutshell over the last 6 weeks. I'll do better before the next 6 is up. But then again, I always say that.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Vacation!!!


This last weekend we had the most wonderful time with Gabe's family in The Keys. We went down and stayed with his mom, Jeff and Sean. Every year they do an annual trip to Marathon for a couple weeks where they do lots of fishing, diving, swimming in the pool and in my case lounging by the pool. We ate lots of yummy (lots!) food and had the best time. It was one of the most relaxing vacations for me because I was completely stress-free with work and able to fully enjoy the family.  Peyton was a champ and played so hard in the pool, thus making her sleep so well.  She loved going on Papaw's boat and honking the horn.  She practiced saying "Memaw" and is getting better at it every day. I think they enjoyed her as much as we did watching her with them.  We're so blessed to have such wonderful family in our lives!!

Playing with mama in the pool

A boat ride

Just being cool like Uncle Sean

Feeding "Iggy" the iguana in the morning

Telling daddy to honk the horn

Sweet girl!

Our view from the dock

One of the day's Gabe caught a bunch of fish

Playing in the pool with Sean and Papaw

Loving the pool with daddy

Fearless!



Looking for fish in the canal

Peyton caught her first fish! And is ready for a nap.



Sunset cruise. Loves the boat.

Kisses for daddy.

On the boat with Memaw

Loving some Uncle Sean

Talking on Papaw's boat