Some end-of-the-month snapshots from our life

Birthday Photos

These pictures were taken with my phone, so they are not great, but we had to at least capture a few memories of Meg's birthday. Unfortunately, it was a very full day of piano lessons and then church, so birthday celebrations did not happen until after church. Megan ate an entire cupcake by herself, beginning with wiping all the frosting off and then licking it off her hands and then settling for the actual cake part. The Bee family (sort of) celebrated with us . . . while we ate cupcakes, Rob and half the fam were upstairs playing ping pong. We chatted for awhile after that, so by the time we got home to open presents it was almost 11 (though the cupcake was at least wearing off by then). Poor Meg got pretty tired after the first present as you can see. We got her a new outfit and some boots so she can play in the snow with the kids. It was casual and fun, but hopefully we can do better in the years to come!!

Sooo Adorable!!

Here is an adorable picture of Megan from our time at Rob's family's home. We were on a walk out in the woods. I'll work on getting birthday pictures up this week.

Happy 1st Birthday Megan!!

Megan is one year old!! We can hardly believe it! I can remember the day she was born as clear as yesterday. The Lord had given me a real peace that day about having my baby in my home (there were other days when I was really scared). Rob got home from work about 2:30 that day, and we decided to take a walk across the street to Michael's so I could find a baby scrapbook. I found a yellow one that would work for a boy or girl, and the question again crossed my mind of when I would get to meet this little darling and find out its gender. Little did I know what would come several moments later. We got home from our walk and I felt tired and a little crampy, so I could not even tell I was having contractions. But then my water broke, at least I was pretty sure it did. Rob was on the phone with his mom when I told him very calmly what I thought was happening. He was shocked and quickly got off the phone and started with the 20 questions. We called the midwife and she came and checked me and sure enough, my water had broken. We had dinner and then Maureen asked us about our love story. As we were talking, I was having contractions, but was distracted enough to not be too terrified. As they intensified we went to the bedroom and Maureen said I should try to get some rest between contractions (assuming it would be several more hours). However, I could not sleep because the contractions were getting worse and quicker. Maureen had me get in the shower which helped me immensely to deal with the pain. When I got out of the shower, Maureen checked me and the baby had crowned. After that, it's a blur, but after 4-5 pushes (and only 4 hours of labor), Megan arrived!! It was definitely one of the most amazing moments in my life. And as my mom always told us, "you take that baby into your arms and forget all about all the pain you just went through . . . and then comes the afterbirth." Actually it was just the stitching that was pretty miserable for me.
All that to say, it has been a wonderful year with our little daughter, and has been so cool to watch her little body develop and learn. Everyone told us the time would fly, and to enjoy each moment with Megan. We have done our best to do that, and have thoroughly enjoyed being parents this year!!

Belated Happy Holidays

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! We sure enjoyed our 2-week vacation! Megan enjoyed visiting with both the families and also the presents (especially the wrapping paper). She got her very own cell phone for Christmas, and I got some great pics, but (the never-ending saga of our camera), our camera will no longer read our little xD card, so all my great pics are lost. I think we'll have to buy a new one and then we'll get back to posting pics. It was wonderful to spend several days with each of our families; we are all glad to be back home now though!
If you think to pray for a new car for us, we would really appreciate it. The transmission in our van is dying, and would cost more than it is worth to repair. So we are on a new car hunt.
Well, a stinky diaper is calling my name, so until next time . . .