A blessing...

Not to long ago in Sunday school the lesson was on Miracles, the teacher started off by asking if anyone in the room had witnessed a miracle, my heart rejoiced, because I know in My life I have seen two. Our children come at the tender mercy of the Lord, only by his willingness to hear and answer our prayers, we have been able to find a fertility treatment that works for us, blessing us with our two amazing little ones. When I look at my life and our children, I know the Lord knows me and Doug, and loves us. A reminder  that always fills my heart with joy. This past weekend we were able to have a number (and by number I mean about 25) of our family members here to celebrate our little Joy and bless him. (thanks to those of you who couldn't make it for the calls and emails, we really appreciated it) The weekend was quite memorable... One just never knows what to expect from the weather in SD. Everyone that was planning to come was able to make it here and home safely. Friday my family was able to get family pictures updated, and have dinner together, then Saturday a few more joined the group and we spent the morning at the indoor water park while it snowed outside! We had so much fun. The kids had a blast and except for our heads colliding literally Doug and I also had a great time (the collision did however leave me with a huge goose egg on my head that I still have almost a week later and one massive headache) That night we played games and had a good time, while the snow continued to fall. Sunday we woke up, we were running on schedule and to our surprise we received an early morning call about 7:15 they called to let us know church was cancelled due to the weather....So we quickly made plans to bless James at home. It all turned out rather nicely. We can't thank those that came enough for their love and support. We really enjoyed having you all here.

My handsome little guy on his blessing day, My Mom Made his Clothes and blanket, and Doug's Mom Made his shoes. Having the blessing at home allowed us to sing together as a family, pray and hear testimonies from our Father's and Bishop, it was really lovely.

Doug and James. I may be biased but they are so cute!

Our little family (My Mom also Made Addy's dress)

The impressive blessing group, Our bishop to the far left (Back) and Our friend Marc to the far right (front) The rest our brothers, Dad's and My Grandpa. And James yawning, shesh this was even the first of the pictures, funny boy...

The weekend really was quite nice, we were not planning on everyone being cooped up in our house all day Sunday, but with a little last minute prep I was able to put together a few things to break up the day. I had done a lot of the prep work for the weekend the week before so I could enjoy the company, it worked out well, we just love having family around, we really miss that being here. Above is Addy with her cousin Alex, She couldn't get enough of all the cousin's, and when everyone left she was quite sad that they were gone, as were we. We miss you all already...

A few More...

A week or so ago, we had some nice weather. It started out that Addy still needed her hat and coat, but could play outside...

The next day it was nice enough for a long sleeve shirt an mickey! It is a little blurry, but look at that JOY! We were so HAPPY to have some outside days to play, before the cold came back...

Addy and Mickey thoroughly enjoying the slide and swing!

And here is that one more, Yes hunny we hope for another nice day to play outside too!

Otherwise our fun tends to look like this! See below, Addy trying on James clothes.... What a hoot she is. I just love her at this age, I wish I knew what was going through her mind, some of the stuff she comes up with...

same day different piece of clothing stolen from baby brother, as long as she doesn't take the clothes off his back I am okay with it. (yes she has tried to take the ones he is wearing, turkey)

Speaking of baby brother here he is 8 weeks old. He is such a good baby. He has reflux something fierce but he deals with it like a champ and is doing the best he can. We took him in for his 2 month check in and he is doing just great. 75% for height, 50% for weight weighing in at exactly 11lbs.

He is so social, I don't remember Addy being this social at this age, he loves to talk and be talked to, he smiles, laughs, and is just adorable. He still doesn't care to be cold, but he does really well with his bath and diaper changes now. He has survived his first cold. And for his eight week birthday he gave a gift to his Mom and Dad, he slept for eight hours! It was a one night thing, he is back to his normal 6-7 hour stretch, but it was a nice break, and we are hopeful to see it again soon.

Such a character, He loves his big sister, they get along quite well as long as she is not on him, he loves to stretch and watch what is going on around him, and has his moments when he loves to be held. He also really enjoys listening to music. I think he is already working on being a ladies man, he winks at me on a regular basis. We can see him growing before our eyes, which is always so weird to us. But grow little guy, grow!

He has good head control, but his real strength lies in his legs, my word this kid has some strength there. He burps well, pretty much on his own without being beat, but we have to watch out for the food coming with it, although it is getting more manageable for all of us. His hair continues to get lighter, and his eyes as blue as can be. I haven't decided who he looks the most like, but He has his Grandpa W's feet, and his Grandpa H's bum. And he is most often referred to as Him Jim (from Hop on Pop)  Other things to note for my memory, he is finally in 0-3 month clothes mainly for the length, and at the rate he is growing will move on to 3-6 shortly for clothes that are all one piece. He loves motion, and car rides. And regularly has his hands in his mouth....We just adore our little guy, he is such a joy in our home. We feel so blessed to have him in our family.

And to show she is no respecter or persons, ie she loves all the men in the house, here is our darling little one in Dad's pants! She has learned to put her own pants on and take them off, she will put four or five pairs on at time, because she can, and just to build up her confidence she trys out other sizes to make sure she can put them on herself too! Seriously she is so funny!

One More...

I wish I had time for one more post today, but alas dinner calls.So this will be the last one for now... Our adorable little lady has mastered the art of asking for one more, she may not speak much, but her wants and desires are usually quite clear, she is so expressive, it kills me, sometimes it is all I can do to not laugh myself silly at her facials! What a hoot! This is by the way her asking for one more go of whatever it is she was doing. We love you sweet girl!

Closing the Gap!

We have been so busy! I can't believe it. Some days I am not sure we have accomplished much, but we seem to be surviving, so I guess that is what really matters right? So, I really have over two thousand pictures from the past 5 weeks or so. Not all of them are great, and no worries they won't all show up here, just a few to fill in the gaps. Here goes. above is a picture of James his second week at church (we failed to take a picture his first week)

Addy is such a good big sister, she just LOVES James. (he is 5 weeks in this picture)

She has even found a use for his clothes he is no longer using (the newborn size, he moved up a little past 7 weeks) Legwarmers!

James 6 weeks

He looks a little scared here, but what a prince he is...

hmmm (6 weeks)

Dad and the kiddos! This is how they help Mom get her work done, by being cute!

Our Sister in Law sent us these adorable hats and scarfs! They have come in quite handy and they are so cute! We just love them... Thanks guys...

My sweet feet, Addy 2years 1 month, James 7 weeks

James 7 weeks, He is getting so Long!

and just look at those baby blues!

This one should have been up with the other one of James going to church. Church goes surprisingly well, although our timing isn't quite right yet, I still spend a good chunk of the day in the mother's lounge

Yikes! looks like she is going to fall right on him! No she is just covering him up, she does love this little boy, he is such a joy in our home! He loves to get a little alone time laying out and streching while listening to some music, but it is rare, big sister is usually on the spot entertaining, whether he wants it or not!

This is what happens when you play yourself to sleep at nap time.  Yes look closely that leg is hanging off the bed, comfy...More to come on that.

8 weeks and Our little valentine

The loves of our Lives! I love the month of february, I seriously can't believe it is almost over. Where does the time go? I just don't know. Busy, busy, busy!

2500

Two Thousand Five hundred and twenty one to be exact

What is that number you ask, the number of pictures we have taken since I last posted.... I think I am behind! LOL