Raising Angels

With much consideration and many pleas for us to return to the world of blogging, I have decided that it would be best to do so at this time. We have a wonderful journal from our last blog that managed to capture so much of what occured before and during the birth of our daughter and now we wish to capture many more memories for the angel that will be welcomed into our family in a few short months. And so this beautiful new chapter in our lives begins today.

We arrived home from our trip to Indiana on Friday and realized how blessed we are as a family. We have so many places to visit because we have family members all over the States and Canada and what a great opportunity we have to take our vacation days to visit them. We spent 10 days in Brownsburgh, Indiana and got to experience the smothering humidity along with the 90 degree weather. Thankfully, my sister-in-law had a few friends with a pool so we were able to cool down for a few days. Baby Andrew's baptism went well and Jeremy did an awesome job lighting the candle as his new GODFATHER. Maya loved spending time with her cousins especially Sophia who just so happens to be the only other girl cousin on Jeremy's side of the family. We got to see the Colts Stadium, the Indianapolis Speedway, and the Children's Museum all in the same day that we tasted our first Steak-n-Shake burger. Our flight home was rerouted due to the floods in Texas and we got bumped up to first class which was so much better for us as we had more room to take care of Maya. She slept most of the way home.

For those of you who have lost touch with our lives, Maya is 9 months old now and is putting everything into her mouth. She said her first word about a month and a half ago - "Mom" and has since said "Da," "Woah," and "Up." She has become a climber and can easily stand on top of her small plastic car to reach the entertainment center. She didn't have much opportunity to walk while she was in Indiana but she did take her first 2 steps the day we left to go there. I'm sure she will be walking pretty soon.

I will be 24 weeks pregnant on Thursday and so far so good. We will have our ultrasound next week, but we have stuck with our original decision to keep the gender a surprise. We have a name picked out for each of the sexes, but we are keeping that a secret as well. I am still going to the gym and trying to stay active as much as I can in this crazy heat wave down here in Oregon. The baby doesn't cause me any pain, just fatigue. I value my sleep a lot these days.

And so our story continues....