Christian Paul

Congratulations to Colin and Amy de Raaf on the birth of their gorgeous little boy, Christian Paul. He was born in the wee hours of Sunday morning, August 19, 2007, and weighed in at 8 lbs 6 oz. He is beautiful and perfect. Praise be to God!

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what happened to July?

I can't believe it's already August!! I apologize (once again!) for the recent post shortage. I know I always talk about how busy we are, but it's the truth...and July was an exceptionally busy month. The second week of the month was VBS, the week after that was packing for camping, and last week was family camping (Breimer side) at the Pinery. This week has been unpacking from camping (I am SO sick of doing laundry! The Pinery was VERY dirty!) and re-packing for my trip with the kids to Dorcas camp (basically, a scrapbooking/sewing/crafts/Bible study getaway for women) next week. See what I mean? Busy. But that is a blessing. Our lives are full, and for that, we thank the Lord!

We are doing well. The kids are great, as usual. Asher seems to be teething (he drools CONSTANTLY!), but the teeth are taking their sweet time coming in. Judah teethed from about 4 months until over 2 years. I really hope Asher doesn't follow his lead! Asher is a real chunkster now. I last had him weighed three weeks ago, and he was 15 lbs 5 oz with clothing. I'm guessing he's around 16 lbs by now. Developmentally, he's doing great, too. He's SO close to sitting on his own. He can do it, and will for brief periods of time, but he doubts his own abilities so usually either tips over sideways or lets himself fall back. He is getting very strong, though. He spent a better part of this afternoon falling back onto the boppy pillow and then pulling himself back up to a sitting position, all on his own! He was also trying to crawl today; he was getting pretty frustrated that he couldn't move very fast. He manages to shimmy himself forward in a very slow creep (we're talking a couple millimetres per minute!), but apparently that wasn't good enough. He was shrieking away because he wanted to move so badly!

He still adores his big brother Judah. Judah can simply look in his direction, and Asher will beam or start giggling. It's amazing! And Judah is so amazing with him. He can make Asher laugh like no-one else can! It's great for all of us, because Asher gets entertained, Judah loves the attention, and Rob and I have a stand-in babysitter for those moments when we can't get to Asher right away. If their current relationship is any predictor, I think my boys will be very close. I really hope they stay that way.

Judah is growing up so much; I can hardly believe it! He loves to have conversations with us about anything and everything. He is SO curious! He asks many questions; his favourite at the moment is "what does a ____ say?", which he asks not just about animals and vehicles, but about random things like chips or trees. "Um...crunch?" We're waiting apprehensively for the inevitable "why" stage. He is growing physically, too. He grown quite tall in the past couple of months. "EEE small, mommy!" is what he tells me about the clothes he is outgrowing.

I am working on pictures for this post, but it takes so darn long, and I can't finish right now (and, since I'm a perfectionist, I won't post the pictures and their stories until they are complete...). I'll leave you with a quick family picture for tonight, but will update this post with pictures (and the stories that go along with them) in the next day or two.

Rebecca and Ethan

Our friend Rebecca came over with her son, Ethan, on Thursday. We went for a walk with the kids and then came back to my place to eat lunch. It was nice to visit with her again and to meet little Ethan for the first time. There are a few more pictures (albeit quite similar to the ones below!) on Rebecca's blog.

Ethan and Judah...

Ethan and Asher...

Ethan was born 5 days after Asher, but Ethan was born at term (on his due date, in fact!), so we were curious to see how the two compared in size. As you can see in the pictures, Asher is about as chubby as Ethan, but not quite as tall. Asher definitely still looks younger and has not hit all the same milestones as Ethan, but that's because his corrected age is only four months. Nonetheless, it was neat to compare. Notice the colour difference? Asher is naturally darker-skinned, and Ethan is quite fair, so it was funny to see them beside eachother.

summer fun

June 25, 2007

on the playground

who, me?

getting chubby, you say?

are you calling me fat?!

i'm not sure how i feel about that...

my new addiction....

...digital scrapbooking with Photoshop Elements 5.0 (a new toy that Rob let me buy after several months of me asking him every time we saw it at Costco!) What do you think?

Making these layouts is so much fun! I love learning new techniques and experimenting with different layers and elements. I'm definitely still learning, though. I'm thinking of downloading a trial of Photoshop CS3, which is a much more advanced program, but am afraid I'll get hooked...and don't want to fork over the $500 (isn't that crazy?!?!) that the program costs.

My love for photography also continues to grow. We would love to buy a digital SLR one of these days. Alas, nice cameras cost big money, too...

recently...

Asher decided that he hates his carseat. He screams not only when we put him in it (which used to be the case), but when we are driving. Even if it's a 20 minute drive, Asher will scream the ENTIRE time. He will scream like the world is coming to an end. And it will sound like he might stop breathing. And it will sound like he is going to burst out of his skin. And it is SO stressful to listen to, especially if you are the driver.

I remember Judah going through this stage at around this age, so I'm hoping it's something he will outgrow...hopefully sooner than later. We are taking a family vacation in North Carolina this September, and will be driving. Somehow, 12 hours in a confined space with a screaming baby is not my idea of a good time...

Happy 6 Months, Asher!

it's happening again...

This little one is growing up just as fast as Judah did. Perhaps even faster...

Tomorrow (in just over an hour, in fact; he was born at 12:59 am...), Asher will be 6 months old. 6 months!! I can hardly believe that half a year has passed since his dramatic entrance into this world! He truly is a miracle baby, and we thank the Lord for Him (as well as for Judah, of course!) each and every day. Each day has lunged into another, though, and time has snuck up on me once again. I try to make myself cherish each moment with my children; the time we get to spend with them while they are young is so fleeting.