James 1:17

"Every good and perfect gift is from above."

That's the verse I chose for our Lyssa and it is proudly adorned on her name frame.

Sunday April 10th was a proud day for us.  Alyssa Marie was baptized in front of family and friends and it was perfect.  The house was buzzing as we all got ready for the service and when I finally pulled out the same baptism gown I wore and put it on her tears filled my eyes.  She looked so pretty.  Derrick oohed and ahhed over her and in that moment I had a sudden epiphany of how much my parents love me.  It was 28.5 years later but knowing I was wearing that gown in November 1982 and that my parents were probably feeling the same way was a very special moment.

Randy Stroming was the officiant and I have known Randy my whole life.  He was my DCE all throughout confirmation, youth group and during my two National Youth Gathering conferences.  I have been friends with his daughters throughout private school and now into adulthood and his wife was my preschool teacher and is actually 30 years later Director of Mt. Olive Preschool and gets to see Riley enter the same school I did.  To say this was meant to be is an understatement.  Pastor Heiden took a call to go to another congregation this last summer (the Pastor who confirmed me, married me and baptized Riley) and as a result we have three very nice interim Pastors serving but I do not know them very well and they will not be with us for long so I was so relieved to hear Randy was our man.  He knows us, remembers my baptism and will probably be instrumental in our children's faith as the DCE of the youth for many years to come.

The service was beautiful, the music was touching and Alyssa was baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of Holy Spirit in my arms as I fought back tears of JOY.  Kyle and Sheri are her sponsors and I know that she will be prayed over and remembered by both of them as she grows up.  She received a very special blanket from the church and The Beginners Bible which is tradition.  Pictures afterwards were a blur as I felt like I was floating somewhere between 1982 and the present pondering how fast time flies and how very thankful and lucky I am to be part of something so stable and present as my family is to us.  Derrick and I had also noticed a piece of black paper or something float from the ceiling of the church during the service and when we looked at eachother and smiled we both thought it was Papa Bob letting us know he was there, smiling over our daughter and telling us how  beautifully and wonderfully made she is.

We ended the morning with pizza at Davannis, a great cake made by my dear friend Jen and a sense of completion.  We were a family of four and it makes my heart sing.

Thank you so much to Kyle and Sheri for accepting Alyssa as your Godchild.  It makes us immensely proud to see her in your arms and we know she is in good hands.

"Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."  Mark 10:14

She is so precious in His sight and ours.

Just the 2 of us.

Riley always needs to be included in the picture taking and he is such a natural in front of the lens that I don't usually fight him about it.  Here's a few keepers from today.

Yep, he's picking his nose.  Nice.

They are crazy about each other.  

Lyssa Lu: 2 months old

This last weekend our little Lu Lu turned 2 months old!  She is such a joy to be around and lights up when you talk to her!  We are truly enjoying everything she does including her first big giggles (of course she was laughing at Daddy because he is the funniest says Riley) and her sleeping pattern...

She has finally started going to bed a bit earlier like 10:30-11:15ish and then she is sleeping through until about 6:00-6:30 when she gets up to eat quick and then goes right back to sleep until about 10:00-11:00.  Now that she is a bit older she doesn't take so long to eat, doesn't poop every diaper and her melatonin has kicked in regulating her sleep pattern which has been glorious!  I should mention that she has been sleeping in her carseat in her crib though because of colds and well because that is what has worked to get her to sleep for 5-6 hours in a row and you will do just about anything to get a few hours of sleep!  She saw the Dr on Monday though and he recommended that we do what we need to do but to also start seeing if she would adjust to sleeping without her carseat and last night after she couldn't fall asleep I decided to see how she would do and I was shocked when she feel asleep on her back and slept until 5:55!  Yay baby girl!  Your somewhat rested parents thank you enormously!

So at 2 months her is a look at Lyssa.

She is wearing size 1 diapers.
She is starting to laugh and giggle.
She is eating every 5-6 hours a good 3-4 ozs.
She is sleeping through the night, hopefully without the help from her carseat!
She is now 11 lbs 11ozs.  (Riley at 2 month was 12 lbs 9 ozs.)
She is 22 1/4 inches long.
She is almost always chewing on her fists which is usually a trait of 3-4 month old babies but she has gnawing away for weeks now and it's probably cause she isn't a huge nuk fan.
She is still struggling with an eye infection and the tail end of cold she inherited from Riley.
She will follow you around the room and smile brightly at you when you look at her or talk to her.
She loves to be outside.
She will sit contently while I do housework as long as she can see me.
She is super happy in the morning when she finally wakes up and all the wants to do is kick her chunky legs and smile at you.  She doesn't even need to eat right away cause all she wants to do is coo and smile.

D joked that she has made him 'soft.'  I gently reminded him that he has never really been hard but it is true that having a little girl has made all 3 of us a little 'softer.'  I could just stare at her all day long, Riley melts when she smiles at him and Daddy's heart breaks when she is sick/crying/or gives him the big lip.  D has always been a little over-protective when it came to Riley but I think we are all going to see a whole new level of protectiveness now that Lyssa is here!

Riley and I took her to the Dr appt on Monday and she did great but was so sad about the shots.  For a good hour afterwards she would spontaneously stop smiling, look at me, give me a huge sad lip and then start crying the saddest sobs ever.  Eventually she feel asleep but woke up flushed, hot and seriously unhappy.  She then proceeded to cry almost non-stop for a good 3 hours and I felt horrible for her.  You could tell she was seriously uncomfortable and I couldn't do anything to help her until I discovered taking her outside where she finally fell asleep and slept off the icky shot side-effects for a solid 3 hours.  Poor baby, poor Mommy and poor Daddy who fretted all afternoon about her.  Tuesday morn she woke up after 9 hours of solid sleep like a new little lady and she has been fine ever since.

Happy 2 months Baby Girl!  

Blessed Beyond Measure

Life is beautiful.  I step back and breathe in the beauty every chance I get.

I have a vibrant, excited, happy little boy who can hardly contain his excitement for life.  I have a pretty, smiley, healthy baby girl who is growing by leaps and bounds.  I have a husband who makes me feel like a million bucks and even though I have a few extra pounds to shed, have huge bags under my eyes and almost never get out of sweats I feel prettier now than I have for a long time because of him.

Life is also busy.  There are no more breaks.  One of us always has a child in or close to our arms now.  The upside to this is that the bond with our children is stronger everyday and you get to see every emotion, every facial expression and hear nearly every breathe they take.

The downside to this is that even when you are peeing you usually have a child in your arms or uncomfortably close to your arms! : 0  I was showering the other day and I always leave the door cracked in case Riley needs to come in and so that I can listen for Alyssa.  I opened the door to the bathroom (I was in a towel) and saw Riley 'spying' from the crack in his bedroom door at me.  He came out laughing that he was "pying on you Mommy and I see your butt, it willy weirds me out."

No breaks, no privacy and un-solicited spying going on everyday!

I am currently looking at 4 more weeks of maternity leave.  (How in the world did the last 8 weeks go by so fast!?)  I am focusing on enjoying life moment by moment.  I do not really want to go back to work but I do crave some me time once in awhile and even if it is driving alone to work at least I will get paid decent to do it!

I get to enjoy 4 more days of 2 year old school with my big boy.  I thoroughly enjoy 2 year old school.  It gives me a chance to appreciate Riley in a whole new light.  He lights up when he enters his classroom and he can't wait to give Mrs. Penny a big hug.  In fact he is kind of a teachers pet with his adoration towards Mrs Penny and Mrs Passe but there are worse things then hugs and high fives!  He is very patient when he wants to play with something as always tells me proudly "Me wait for mine turn Mommy."  He loves to have fun with his classmates and trips to the bathroom are especially exciting as they all take off running leaving us parent's searching for their shoes under each stall!  He loves storytime and he really enjoys learning about Jesus which makes me very proud and also very impressed at his understanding of the bible stories.  He might love Jesus so much because he was also a fishermen (or fisher of men) but he is still learning and that is all that we can ask for.  He has learned and grown up so much this last year from school and I will really be sad when he starts real preschool this fall and walks into his classroom alone without his Mommy.  I am so lucky to have been able to attend class with him for 11 weeks and I am even luckier that it is at the church we already attend, the same one that I went to preschool at.

I am so blessed to sit back and watch my Riley entertain and love on his sister.  He is a great helper and never hesitates to lend a hand when we ask.  He calls her his little honey and he loves to hug her, hold her and talk to her.  I know that sometimes an older sibling can get a little bit aggressive towards a new baby in the house and I have heard of them sometimes hitting, pinching, yelling at or pushing the new baby but Riley is so patient and has never laid a finger on her in anger or disappointment.  In fact he doesn't even seem to hear her when she is crying.  If she is screaming in the car he is just looking out his window and singing softly to himself as if nothing is going on.  Occasionally he does notice her cries and he tries very diligently to get her to stop.  She in turn lights up when she recognizes him and rewards him with coos, smiles and most recently the beginnings of laughter.  She is such a lucky girl and together they make me mushy with love and happiness.

Riley almost never is silent and by the end of the day D and I look at eachother and just laugh at how fast our little motormouth is speaking.  Every sentence comes out with enthusiasm and he says the darndest things.  It's utterly amazing what he picks up on and can repeat at the perfect moments.  D was dressing him the other day and he looked up at his Daddy and said "You the best Daddy."  When he hits a 'homerun' he shouts out "boomshackalacka", and when I ask him to help clean up he will "course I help Mommy but me not weal happy about it."  I try really hard not to laugh but he is too funny.

We are so blessed because our children are so loved by our family.  Kyle has come over to watch Lyssa for me while Riley and I run around and since he still lives with my parents we see him 2-3 times a week usually.  Katie stops over nearly every Monday to visit with the kids and we see both Ben and her at least once a week.  Nana and Papa stop over for quick visits when they are running around, Papa calls to talk to Riley once or twice a week and Nana makes us dinner 1-2 times a week so we see them alot.  Riley will ask about Katie, Ben, Kyle, Papa and Nana when he hasn't seen them in a few days and he loves to talk on the phone to them and insists I call them back if I hung up before he got a chance to say hi.  It is so convenient that we all live within 3 miles of eachother and with 2 children in tow family and the help that they offer has been priceless.  He also loves to talk to his up north Nana and he asks lots of questions about where she is, what she is doing and when he will see her.  He is also starting to ask lots of questions about his up north Papa and we are really at a loss on what to tell him.  We show him lots of pictures of his Papa T and he knows that he doesn't ever see him but I have been scared to tell him about death and dying so for now we are just letting those questions slide but we are so lucky to have so many pictures of Riley with his Papa T and I am so thankful for them because when Riley looks at them he beams with pride.  We are also so lucky to have brought Alyssa home from the hospital on Feb 11th, one year exactly from the death of Bob.  It really helped Derrick to have her in his arms and I think it was a great tribute to Bob and a dear reminder that when God takes away he keeps you close and reminds you of his love.  We were shocked that Alyssa was being so stubborn about delivery but when we realized the date we wondered if she was going to wait until Feb 11th as a special reminder that Papa Bob was looking over us.  I am sure babies see angels and when Lyssa looks over me and smiles up at the ceiling I can guarantee with everything in me that she is smiling at her Papa in heaven and it has brought salty tears to my cheeks as she coos and smiles into the face of the angel I can't see.

Currently my sweet little babe is sick, miserably sick and we (Lyssa Lu and Me) spent nearly the whole night cuddling and watching TV because she can hardly breathe, is coughing up phlegm and is feverish. It is heartbreaking and D hated going to bed seeing how sick she was.  I was absolutely exhausted but eventually morning came and life started coming back into her eyes.  She gave us a few smiles and we are moving forward one Kleenex at a time.  This sick little babe is getting baptized on Sunday and I cannot wait to get her into my baptism gown and give her a new life in Faith.

We are blessed, busy but immeasurably blessed.  I could not live without my busy babies and I am forever changed by them.