One Month Old!!

It seems like only yesterday that I was so DONE with being pregnant and couldn't wait to have this little baby in my arms...and now she's already ONE MONTH OLD!! My how time flies when you're exhausted as all get out, changing diapers until they come out of your ears, dealing with temper tantrums from our toddler...oh yeah, and having fun!!! For reals...despite all the other stuff that comes with having a newborn in the house again, it really has been fun. Payton is such a joy to have. She's a good baby...still sleeping and eating the majority of the time. She likes to be held (who wouldn't, really???!!), which means she sleeps on me or Kevin some of the time, but she is starting to enjoy longer stretches (sometimes 4 hours) of shut eye in her bassinet! Baby steps, baby steps!!

A couple of weeks ago, two of my wonderful and talented friends offered to take pictures of Payton (and some of Alexa too). Click here to check out Amanda's pictures and here to check out Rachael's pictures. You may have to scroll down through a few posts to find the ones of my girls.

Thank you ladies for sharing your wonderful talents with us!!

And since Amanda gave me a CD with the rest of the pictures on it today, here are a few more of my favorites:

Payton has her one month check-up on Monday so stay tuned for updates on her stats!!

A Match Made in Heaven???

My good friend, Gwinn, and I had our babies on the same day, different hospital, only 6 hours apart. Her little guy, Blake, made an appearance later the same day after Payton joined our family. Here is a picture of their first date! :-) Who knows what the future will hold for these two???!!!

Our "Backyard"!!

Alexa has taken to calling the balcony off our dining room, her "backyard". She seems to be content with it most of the time...which is great as we don't have a real backyard to call our own at this time in our lives! She loves to play out there, as you can see from these pictures, and she's not afraid to get dirty...but that's what laundry detergent is for, right??!! Why stop the fun just because of a little dirt?!!

Strawberry Festival

This morning, we ventured to the Strawberry Festival in Starlight, Indiana. We've been wanting to go for a couple years now as it's right by Huber Farms where we go pumpkin picking every year, but just haven't made it...until now. Thankfully, my friend Amanda reminded me about it, otherwise we would have missed out yet again this year! Anyways, it was fun to get outside on a beautiful day and enjoy a nice, BIG portion of strawberry shortcake. I unfortunately did not take a picture of said huge portion...but for $3.50, you could build your own strawberry shortcake and pile on as many strawberries as you wanted, topped by as much whipped cream as your little heart desired. It was oh so delicious!!

Alexa & Daddy

Going Up...

and coming down!

Our little family of four!

It has begun....

...aaaahhhh, the lazy days of summer! Oh how we have missed thee!! This was the first swimsuit day of the summer for us and we hope there will be MANY more to come! Alexa had a blast playing with her best buddy "Nay-Nay" in his "kitty pool". (I think Alexa thought the little pool was actually supposed to be for the kitties, not herself & Nathan, the KIDDIES!)

Thank you!!

Since having Payton, our family has been extremely blessed by the willingness of others to share their time, talents and FOOD with us!! :-) We want all our friends who brought us meals, visited us in the hospital and have helped out since having the baby was born to know how much we love and appreciate each of you!

Lovin' Life!

Kevin and I are so blessed to have these two beautiful girls in our family.

We love them so much!

Back to Life...Back to Reality!!

My mom left to return to Canada this morning. It's back to reality now. It's been soooo nice having her here to help out and to spoil us all rotten. I'm not sure how I'm going to get two kids out of the house without an extra set of hands...but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Thanks mom for everything you did...we couldn't have done it without you and are so grateful for you taking the time from your already busy life to help us out. We love and miss you too much!! :-)

FIVE Years!!

Five years ago today, I married my best friend! It's by far the best thing I've ever done. I love this guy more than I can say and am so grateful for the kind of man, husband and father that he is. He makes me want to be a better person and I'm eternally thankful that I get to share everything with him. I love you Kevin and look forward to many more years and happy times together!!

To celebrate our anniversary, we went to our favorite restaurant, Varanese! If you haven't been there, we STRONGLY recommend it!! It is fabulous.

It was such a nice evening to get away, just the two of us. And since my mom is still here helping since Payton was born, we even had a free babysitter...not to mention a free dinner thanks also to my parents!! Here are our entrees...they did not disappoint!

And our desserts!! Yummo! For reals, the food is so great and the atmosphere is wonderful. We're already looking for another reason to go back there!!

Happy Anniversary babe!

Picture Overload!!

My camera seems to be working overtime these days!! With a newborn around, there are many moments to be captured. I fear I had gotten lazy with capturing all of Alexa's moments and am trying to rectify that since Payton came. Anyways, here are some pictures to catch you all up on the happenings over the last 2 1/2 weeks since Payton joined our family.

Daddy's Little Girl - she already has Kevin wrapped around her itty bitty fingers!

I just thought this picture was so cute...look at those cheeks!!

Me and my girls...oh how I love them!

Alexa is so sweet with Payton.

She wants to be everywhere she is.

A tender moment with mommy.

Please...no more pictures!

Last Saturday, we took the girls and my mom for a picnic down by the river. It was a really pretty day and we all enjoyed getting out of the house for a little bit. And what was even better...my mom treated us to Graeter's ice cream afterwards!! Can't go wrong there!!

I just love this little peanut. She has been such a joy to have in our family and I can't imagine life without her!

More evidence of Alexa's love for her baby sister. She was so sweet one day and let Payton have her lovey's for a little while. Sure, she's had a couple moments of jealousy...but overall, she's been so loving and so willing to share. I'm soooo grateful that it's been such an easy adjustment for Alexa!

We've really enjoyed having my mom (aka Gramma Jenny) here to help out. Alexa especially has LOVED having pretty much 100% of Gramma's attention focused on her. They've played and played and played...on top of my mom cleaning, doing laundry, cooking, sewing and helping me out. Thanks mom for giving of your time to help me and my little family!

We love you Gramma Jenny!

I soooo wish this picture wasn't blurry! I think it's so adorable of Alexa. Such pure joy on her face. My fabulous friend, Brinn, made me this nursing cover and showed Alexa that it also works great as a cape. However, she figured out that it also makes a great skirt and got a kick out of me trying to capture a picture.

Anyways, that's about it so far - nothing too exciting...just adjusting to life as a family of four.