Too Big Too Fast!

Saturday marked 5 weeks with The King of Our Jungle. David is growing and changing so quickly. Angie tried to put him pajamas Sunday evening and they were too snug. We have a basket for clothes that are already too small. We love that we have a healthy happy little boy, but it seems like our time with him is already slipping through our fingers. We enjoy every minute of being parents and spending time with David.


5 weeks old

Spending time with cousin Luke - 5 weeks old.

Spending time with cousin Luke - 6 days old.

You can tell how much David has changed by looking at these pictures. He was easy for Luke to hold at 1 week, now he is much longer and heavier. Luke is a great big cousin. He loves to give kisses and play with his new cousin!

Another Holiday - Another Outing

Well, with Memorial Day we took our first official outing with David. ( see previous post) Two weeks passed and we thought we would celebrate Father's Day with another try. David was to weeks older and we had 2 more weeks of practice being parents.
So, Angie got up at 6:00 on Saturday morning so that we could leave early before it was too warm out. Our goal was to go early to breakfast and then the park. However, even with all of Angie's efforts we were still not ready to leave our house until 9:00. We wanted to take Bella, our dog, too. However, by 9:00 it was too hot for her to be left in the car while we ate breakfast - she stayed at home.
Greg's favorite meal of the day is breakfast and he loves to go out to breakfast at a little cafe close to our house. We arrived and were lucky to be seated right away. David was asleep in his car seat all was going well. We ordered and ate all while David slept. Then as we were paying our bill David began to wake. Angie took him to the restroom to change him and he was ready to get back into the car seat. Still a happy family.

Monument Cafe'
Then it was off to the park. We wanted David to have some fresh air and wanted to snap a few pictures, David was 4 weeks old on Saturday. As we arrived at the park David began to fuss and Angie knew, he was hungry. So, we found a secluded place at the park. Angie fed David and Greg set up his camera to get pictures of David once he finished eating. It was getting warm and Angie began to get a little cranky as she was worried about David becoming over heated. So, with much discussion and a few pictures we decided to pack up and go home to rest.
David's first time seeing a donkey

Relaxing in the park

Saturday went so well that we planned an outing for Sunday - Father's Day. We were going to take David to church for the first time. Angie rose at 3:00 that morning so that we could be at church on time. We also had to celebrate Greg and wanted him to open his first Father's Day gifts before we left for church. We arrived at church on time! We sat close to the back of the sanctuary, not where we normally sit, in case we needed to make a quick exit. David was sleeping until the first hymn, then he was awake. Greg held him for a while and then mouthed to Angie " David stinks." Yes, we had a leaky dirty diaper. Angie grabbed the diaper bag and David and tried to exit without disturbing too many. Angie packed 4 extra outfits after what happened on Memorial Day, however we only had to change David one time. After Angie and David returned to the service David decided he was hungry. Greg fed him a bottle and church was over without any glitches, except that Greg and Angie may have been a little distracted and missed parts of the message, good thing we can watch on-line later or television next week.

Angie remembered the camera, but left it in the car. This was taken by Greg's mom with her phone -- David's first time at church.

The last piece of our Father's day celebration was to occur on Monday. Since, David was now 4 weeks old his doctor told us we could take David out in public with a little less risk. So, Angie and David were anxious to go visit Greg at work. Angie arose at 6:00 Monday morning as to not be late. Greg has a limited time for visiting between patients and we did not want to miss our opportunity. David and Angie left the house at 10:30 to arrive at Greg's office by 12:00. It should have been about a 30 minute trip, but Angie cushioned her time and glad she did. Angie and David were not at the end of our street before David was crying. Yes, you guessed it, he was hungry. Angie began talking and singing which calmed David for all of 5 minutes. Angie stopped at the high school down the street and fed David in the back seat. After about 35 minutes David was satisfied and back in his car seat. 15 minutes later Angie was pulling over again. David was fussy, but just needed attention, he is not spoiled or anything. Angie gave him a pacifier and the rest of the trip went well. Before going into Greg's office Angie changed David's diaper, nothing worse than showing off a stinky baby, and then we went to see Daddy.

We arrived in the office, visited with a few doctors, and yes you guessed it David was fussy again. He was hungry. After eating David was happy to visit and even fell asleep on the way home. Angie was disappointed with herself, she remembered to take the camera - even remembered to take it in, but forgot to take a picture of David's first visit to Daddy's office. This means we will have to visit again soon!

29 days of being a DAD!

It is amazing to watch Greg with David. He is patient, funny, loving, and incredibly proud. When Greg is with David he never stops smiling.
Greg has jumped into fatherhood more than Angie expected. He changes diapers, helps with feedings, takes David during his fussy hour, sings to him, reads to him, talks with him.
Before David was born Greg would joke about the items he would and would not take care of once David arrived. However, there is really nothing that Greg would not do for David - it is incredible to watch the love grow between our son and his father!
Happy 1st Fathers Day Greg - WE LOVE YOU!

First Day being a Dad

First day at home

2nd week at home

3rd week at home

4th week - World's Greatest Dad!

Relaxing in Daddy's arms


Best Feeling in the World - Wrapped in Daddy's arms!

Safe and Sound

Growing up Angie's dad always told her that you appreciate things more when you have to work hard for them. You have to be patient, you will have what you want all in good time.
We waited for David and prayed for him and he was very much worth waiting for. We wonder if we would appreciate him this much if he had just been given to us. Instead we had to trust in our faith that we would be given a child. The Lord knew the desire of our hearts and even middle of the night feedings are enjoyable because we are spending time with the answer to our prayers
Today we celebrate 28 days with David. We are grateful for the opportunity to be David's parents!
A few weeks before David was born Angie heard the following song by Matthew West. This song pretty much says how we feel about our little boy

Safe And Sound

Can't believe you're here now
Tiny dream come true
The answer to a prayer now
I'm so in love with you
Couldn't wait to meet you
Hope you like your name
I get the funny feeling
Life will never be the same

Safe and sound
You're here with me now
Like I hoped you'd be
Safe and sound
You're here with me now
And that's all I'll ever need

The world's a scary place here
But baby it's alright
I'll make sure the coast is clear
So you can just sleep tight
But if you're afraid of monsters
Like everybody is
I'll be right beside you
Closer than a kiss

Safe and sound I'm here with you now
And you will always be
Safe and sound
I'm here with you now
And that's all you'll ever need

Someday I'm gonna teach you
The reason why we pray
So that heaven's love may reach you
Every single day
So, baby close your eyes now
And say a prayer with me
Lord, I lay me down to sleep now

But I know I will be Safe and sound
You're here with us now
And we will always be
Safe and sound
You're here with us now
And that's all we'll ever, all we'll ever need
You're all we'll ever need

Daddy's Home!

Greg had to unexpectedly go out of town for a few days. This left Angie alone with a 3 week old baby and Greg missing his 3 week old son.
Last night Greg returned home. I am not sure who was happiest. Angie was excited to have help with David, Greg was ready to hold David, but it looks like David really missed Greg too!

Back in Daddy's arms

Giving Daddy a hug

Snuggling with Daddy!

Greg we are so happy to have you back home - we love you!

Parent Appreciation

We have heard that you never truly appreciate your parents until you are a parent yourself. Now we understand how true this statement is.
About a month or so before David was born Angie's mom came to help Angie with organizing David's new things. This was a great help as Angie was having a hard time getting up and down and was really beginning to feel uncomfortable.
3 weeks before David was born, Greg's mom began cooking us a meal on Monday evenings. She would make enough so that we could have it through the week. This was great because Angie was becoming tired and when she returned home from work the last place she wanted to be was standing over a hot stove.
The day Angie went into labor Greg's mom took care of Greg. She stayed at the hospital from 11:00am until after David was born the next day at 2:30 a.m. She brought Greg lunch and dinner along with some snacks. This was great because Angie needed Greg to have energy to be as supportive as possible.
Angie's parents also arrived that night after working all day and driving 4 hours. They first went to our house to check on our dog. They brought up a few items that Angie had forgotten at home. They stayed at the hospital until 6am making sure that Angie was out of recovery and that both Angie and David were doing well.
Greg's parents visited everyday while we were in the hospital. They brought Greg meals and Angie sweet treats. They would call daily to make sure we were not in need of anything before visiting.
During the next week Angie's parents took care of our home, grocery shopping, laundry, meals, and dog. They came to the hospital to visit everyday. They too brought meals so that we were not tied to just hospital food.
This past week Angie's parents were back again. Once again grocery shopping, taking care of laundry, cooking, cleaning, night feedings and watching David in the mornings so that Angie could be a part of VBS.
While they were here Greg's dad invited Angie's dad to play golf a few times. This too was wonderful so that not everything was work, work, work.
There are so many things that our parents did for us, there are no words to share exactly how much we appreciate them taking care of us so that we could take care of David.

Bruce, Sherry, Barbara, and Ed thank you all for loving us so much - we feel so blessed to still have parents that model love for each other and your children! We love you!

VBS? - YES!

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Colossians 3:23-24

Last week Angie had the opportunity to volunteer once again at our church VBS. This is the 8th year that she has participated. Most counted Angie out of VBS. After all she had a 2 week old little boy, had incision wounds that were still pretty sore, and had not yet been cleared to drive.
However, Angie is never more proud of her church than during the week of VBS. Watching the over 700 students learn scripture and sing praises to our Lord all while having an amazing amount of fun fills her cup to over flowing.
This year the theme was transformation. Hearing the children talk about a relationship with God and singing about counting on God, having no fear or doubt, and being with God forever made her happy that she once again was able to volunteer her time. After all, what we want most for David is a relationship with our God, for him to know that God has already chosen him, that our God knew his name before we did, and that we serve a God of grace. It is exciting to think of the plans that God has in store for our greatest blessing and to know that next year David will be a part of VBS with Angie.

A portion of the over 700 children at VBS

Just Because

There is no particular reason for this series of photos. David was in a happy mood after his bath this morning. Angie thought she would try her hand at a photo shoot with the happy little guy!


Pretending to sleep

Studying his hands

Thinking

Relaxing!

21 Already?

David is 21 days old today!
We cannot believe how fast the last 3 weeks have flown by. We are seeing so many changes in David and feel like he is already changing too fast.
He is gaining weight and strength daily. He is smiling and cooing - almost a little giggle. He is looking around and seems to notice objects and recognizes voices.
He is an amazing blessing for our family - he has captured our hearts - we cannot get enough of him!
First Day of Life!



1 week old


2 weeks old


3 weeks old

Watching Television

We have never watched much television in our home - we don't have cable or satellite. So, we have a choice of 5 channels, none of which have exceptional programming. However, there were some evenings when there was something on television we wanted to watch.
Since David joined our family we realize we really no longer watch television. What do we do? We watch David. If you were to walk into our home these are some of the images that you would see. We love spending time with our little boy.

Tired Dad and Baby

Tired Mom and Baby

Hanging out in Daddy's lap

Daddy and David time

Headed upstairs for bed

Relaxing with the family

The family sleeping

Aunt Christie

Both of our families have come to help us immensely since the birth of David, but there will be more on this in a later post.
We have also had the help of Angie's sister, Christie. She came the week that David was born with her 3 year old son, Luke. While here Luke knew that he had serious work to do taking care of his new cousin, but much of Christie's time was spent taking care of Luke rather than David.
So, she offered to come back to help after Angie's parents left. Christie came back without her little one a few days later, and we were so very glad!
While she was here she cleaned, washed, cooked, helped in the middle of the night with feedings, made bottles, and was a wonderful model of a loving and patient mother for Angie.
She spent time talking to David, taking him around with her where ever she went telling him what he was seeing.

She played with him, putting together his new favorite toy, his jungle play gym.

She got him dressed and ready for the day while Angie was getting ready herself for a doctors appointment.
She drove Angie and David to 2 doctors appointments and the grocery store.


David with Dr. Yuim, Angie's wonderful doctor!

Christie did all of this while in less than a week her family would be leaving for a family vacation to Hawaii. She could have been in Houston preparing for her family and she was here taking care of ours!
Thank you for being so selfless and taking care of us!

Celebrate!

Today we celebrate David, he is 2 weeks old.

We also celebrate Aunt Christie and Uncle Brian. 11 years ago today they were married, Happy 11th wedding anniversary!

Tomorrow we celebrate Gram and Grandad. They celebrate 40 years of marriage tomorrow!

Happy 40th anniversary!

We love you all!

So BIG

Tomorrow David will be 2 weeks old. We cannot believe how much we love our little boy!
Today we had is 2 week visit with the pediatrician. Our goal was to get David to gain weight! While we were in the hospital David lost too much weight and that was one of the reasons we had to stay a bit longer.
David was born 7 pounds 14 ounces and dropped to 7 pounds 1 oz. We brought him home exactly one week ago today and he weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces. Today when we checked in with his doctor he weighed 7 pounds 15.5 ounces. He is now in the 25 percentile in weight.
David also has grown. He is now 21 inches long, gaining 3/4 of an inch in 2 weeks.
We are beginning to see a little baby fat on his legs, he does not like to miss a meal!
We are grateful for his appetite and are just amazed at what a blessing we have been given!

Pet Vet

Today we took an outing to the animal clinic. Angie knew that Bella was due for her vaccinations in about 3 weeks. However, she did not want to try and take Bella and David to the vet by herself. So, she made an appointment for Bella while Greg is off of work.
Greg wanted David to join in the trip because in Greg's younger years he worked at the animal clinic and wanted the staff to meet David. So, this morning we all piled into the Suburban for Bella's trip to the vet.
David did well - slept the entire time. Bella enjoyed it also, it is the most attention she has had in 12 days. We discovered while we were there that David was born on Dr. Kniffin's (the veterinarian) birthday.

On the way to the animal clinic

David's first trip to the animal clinic

David is beginning to notice Bella a bit

Bella is showing a little more interest in David