Thorin Tate is 8 months old - as of 11.12.09!!!

First of all it's still hard for me to believe that I even have kids...that I'm a MOM!!! And then to hear myself say that our second son is 8 months old already just blows my mind!!! I love it!!!

Thorin is a complete doll!!! His smile is totally contagious! People can't help but smile when they look at him! He has such a sweet disposition! He is truly living up to his name -- Tate means Cheerful!!

He is now crawling on his hands and knees!

His 3rd and 4th teeth are coming in!

He is just starting to pull himself up to stand!

He has been sleeping through the night for the most part.

He eats a ton and has loved everything I have given him so far!

He can sit himself up half way and will sit for a bit when I sit him up before falling backwards : )

Brother lovin'!!!

Sterling calls him 'baba' (for brother) or TT (as he still can't pronounce Thorin and he just chooses to shorten Tate : ).

I absolutely love watching them interact!!! They get such a kick out of each other!

Well...there were a couple videos that I really wanted to add to this post but alas both of them have failed to upload : /

Afternoon at the park...

We are so blessed to live in such a nice neighborhood and to have our very own park within it! Sterling LOVES it!!

The swing is his favorite!! He loves going really high - he grins really big and keeps saying, 'high, high'!

The slide comes in at a fairly close second!

All boy!!!

It has been an exceptionally wet winter here so far (which is great for this land!!)!! We had a week of rain followed by a beautifully sunny week - which we soaked up!! And this week has been rainy and cold again!

Thorin...

Lovin' on my boy!!!
Such a sweet happy face...just seconds after this photo he got a little high-centered and did a major face plant : /
He is pretty much always smiling!!! Some one commented of him the other night that he's the smiley-est kid they had ever seen!!!
We were hanging out outside one afternoon and it was so cold that I zipped him up in my sweater.

Bath time

One of the things that I miss in being here is having a bathtub for the boys to play in during bath time. Playing in the tub used to be one of Sterling's favorite pastimes!! Our neighbor loaned this tub to us for Thorin. I finally got it out the other day and wow, was that some WET fun!!! I gained a whole new appreciation for a completely tiled bathroom with a drain in the middle of the floor (very characteristic style of bathrooms in the third world). I got a great video of them cracking each other up that I'd love to share but it had trouble uploading : /



Sterling will still take a bath and love it how ever it comes...even this miniature : )

The boys...hangin'

Sterling dancing and dirty feet!

Aaahhh, Sterling's dancing is so entertaining!!! I just have to wonder where he comes up with his moves : ) I love it!!!
And the bit about the dirty feet - well, it's nearly impossible to keep the floors dust free here and our feet show it! Shortly before I took this video I had been commenting on how dirty Sterling's feet were. Just in case you can't make out what he's saying about my feet, it's 'eeewwww gross'!! Gotta love the honesty of kids!!

Thorin's crawling progress...

These are just a couple more of the stages that Thorin has been through. I love it!!! It's so fascinating to watch!! I'm so amazed by how fast they progress once they start doing something new like this!!!

I love how Sterling gets down with Thorin in this video - as though to cheer him on...before he starts whacking him in the face with the ball : ) Aaaahhhh some days I despair of any hope of teaching my 1 1/2 year anything about gentleness!!!

This one is pretty much up to date. Thorin no longer has any trouble getting where he wants to go!

Our new home.

I know this is long overdue so here it is...
This is our home. The bay window to the right on the lower level is in the living room and the upper level is our master bedroom. To the left from the bay window is our front door. And to the far left is the kitchen door and above that is Sterling's room.

Part of our street (this photo is was taken from the house across the street from ours)

This is what you see when you walk in the kitchen door. In the foreground you can see our lovely 5 burner GAS stove - one of the things that most excited me about the house : )!!

just to the right of that..

and to the far right is our table.

This is the living room...we don't really spend much time in here. I use it mostly for drying our clothes.

This is the view from our home on a very UNclear day...

...and the same view on a clear day


A close-up of the mountain to the left...it's just beautiful! They say that in the winter it will be capped with snow!
Well, I had been waiting to post this until I had more pictures of the inside of our house...but after several days have decided that those pictures will have to wait...

Thorin starting to crawl!!

It is amazing how fast he has progressed!!!
These videos represent the phase that I call 'much effort, little result'. It cracks me up how he lays down for a rest and to suck his thumb!!!

Dukan

We spent a wonderful day at lake Dukan, about 45 minutes north of us. It was wild to see so much water in this very dry land!

We are falling in love with these mountains...they grow more and more beautiful to us the longer we are here!

We drove along this range to get to the lake!!

We spent the day with our new friends/neighbors - they live just across the street from us.

Our wonderful driver, Dlshad, with Sterling

We were surprised to met so many Arabs here on holiday. This region provides a haven away from the tumult of the south!
Sterling LOVED playing in the water and had a bit of a meltdown when we had to go!!!
I love this face!

The drive home...

The boys...

I love this series!!!





This video is great! It gets a bit long but Thorins expression at the end makes it worth it : ).

Arrival

Sulaimani International - you can faintly see the mountains in the background.

This 10 minute bus ride from the airport home was the very last leg of our journey and Sterling was increasingly restless!! Chris, one of Tim's new colleagues was kind enough to offer his hat as a diversion!!
Clearly Sterling was happily diverted : )

Meeting our new neighbors (directly across the street from us) - a Canadian/Columbian family with 4 lovely children!!
Our new street
Milaina (sp?)has been so sweet with Sterling!

Sterling, watching the world from our front gate...

The whole family is big into soccer and Sterling loves the balls!!!

The journey...

Hanging out in the airport with my family...


Checking in
Our mountain of luggage

There were two Thai flight attendants on our long flight - they fell in love with Sterling - and he fell in love with this one in particular! He cried a couple times when she had to put him down.
View from our hotel in Amman
Such a happy face before a very sleepless night...

Leaving Jordan

Thorin napping on the plane

How stinkin' cute is he?!!!

First impressions...

Brown...brown...brown...dust and dirt as far as the eye can see...It's a real trip the first time you fly over this land!!


The eggs are better - I don't know if you'll be able to tell from this photo but the yolks are a rich orange...

The sponges on the other hand are quite a different story...this is how it looked after doing dishes ONCE!
Pizza? We've decided to call it naan with a little cheese (if you can even call it that) and some herbs sprinkled over the top...and yes, those are packets of katsup that they provide with each one!

Evening call to prayer...

Summer time fun!

f

Stereling and the ABC book!

I dare say he will learn his abc's from this book! It was his absolute favorite for a while!! It is still one of 2 that sits on the back of the toilet - do all boys read when they go to the bathroom??

the boys

Our 3rd anniversary!!

This time we went to the Shenandoah National Park. It was beautiul!!! And so amazing to have 2 days with out the boys (thanks to my family)!! We felt like kids agan!!!

There were deer everywhere!! And they were so tame!

Family picnic - 4.26.09

We have a family tradition of saring a meal together on Sunday afternoon. We love it when it's warm enough to eat outside. This time we met in Ty and Jenna's back yard.

Grandma lovin'

The boys.

I love Alexia's face in this one!!

I love these!!

Hangin out with Pops

One of our first warm Saturdays - 4.18.09

Helping Pops mulch! - 4.14.09

The boys with U. Ty and A. Jenna - April 11

Sterling and Alexia - 4.10.09

The latest of our growing family!

Our family of 6 has now doubled and Shanny is about to put it over!

Sterling and the three-of-a-kind blankies...

We got the biggest kick out of this gift from Tim's company!!!

There were 3 in this box - Sterling quickly laid claim to one of them : )



We were dying laughing at him - he walked around like this for several minutes!!!

Just a couple cute videos of the boys.

Welcome to the world Thorin Tate!!

Oh how exciting it is to be writing this!!!!

Our second son was born to us at 12:26 am on Thursday the 12th! Everything went smoothly with his arrival once he finally decided to come! He was 13 days early according to the ultrasound and it seems that he was quite unsure whether or not he was actually ready to come when he did. I started having regular contractions on Tuesday night and they waxed and waned for about 26 1/2 hours before he actually made his appearance. Thankfully the pain didn't kick in until the last 4 1/2 hours.

A glad dad!! : )


He weighed in at a tiny 6 lb 12 oz!!! And is 20 1/2 inches long.

My mom was there for the birth...
...as was my sister, Jenna - such precious moments!!!

We were home by about 3 am and actually got a couple hours of sleep in before the night was completely over : )

It has been such a blessing to watch Sterling with Thorin!!! He gets such a kick out of him!




Uncle Ryan and Aunt Shannon.



Uncle Logan.




Thank you Jesus for our precious boy!!!

Sterling's b-day party!

Oh what a blessed day this was!!!! Thank you to all who showered our family with love(including all of you who were not physically able to be there)!!!
It was a beautiful day! I managed to keep it pretty simple (only made 2 dishes) but it turned into a nice spread with a few others who brought stuff!! A big thanks to Tito Dennis for the amazing Adobo and yummy ice cream cake, and to Dona for the home made chocolate/coffee cake that was to die for - both were huge hits!!! As simple as it was I was still runnin' most of the time as 52 some odd people came through that afternoon - wow, we were blown away and like I already said, felt very blessed by all the wonderful family and friends in our lives!! I'm so glad we did it and it made an awesome first big memory in our new place!!

Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures from the day : /. I tried to load a few more than this but it wouldn't let me so I'll get this posted and try again later.


Pip and Tito (Tagalog for Uncle) Dennis with Alexia!
Shanny and Logan - too bad all you can see is the back of Sterling's head
Grandma and the kiddos!

Sterling is turning ONE!!!

He can’t believe it and neither can we!!!



Please join us in celebrating his life and God's goodness!!
We will be having a very low-key open house (at our new house) on
Sunday the 25th between 2:00 and 5:00.
Light traditional Filipino fare will be served!

NO gifts please!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Our first big snow of the year...it was beautiful - huge fluffy flakes - but way too warm to stick!

Sterling enjoyed watching it fall - I always wonder what goes through his mind : )
Some Christmas pictures we didn't use on our card...



I know this is a bit late but the last month has just flown by and we have been really busy!! As I'm sure all of you have been!! We had a wonderful Christmas! Very low key this year! I hope to have more pictures to add later but unfortunately they are on Tim's computer.

More misc. pictures

Some times I look at Sterling lately and marvel at how fast he's loosing his baby look!!!

Ryan (my brother) with his little china doll!

I love these expressions!!!

Camping in PA - Labor Day weekend

Sterling with his Pops!

My boys!!
My nakie bootie boy!!  Love these buns!!!!
Sleeping handsomes : )
He used to grab both ears when ever he was eating - so funny!!

How cute is this!!!

Hoodies and blue eyes!
I love this one!
Pretty little LexiLou!!

August 4th-9th - Clarah's Visit

Well, I'm afraid too much has happened in the last couple months to actually properly catch up!! I'll do my best with a quick overview...I'm terrible at 'quick'!!

August 4th
Just a couple days after I got back home from the 2 week trip to Missouri Tim's 5 year old niece, Clarah, flew out for a 5 day visit. She was great and we really enjoyed our time with her!!

Bedtime stories with U. Tim!

We got to go out on the boat with my brother, Ryan, and his family! It was a beautiful afternoon!!! The sunset was spectacular!!

Ryan and Sterling!

The guys


Sterling is always so funny in his life-vest!!!

Shanny, Ry, and little LexiLou!

We had an awesome taco salad for dinner!

Tim and Clarah

The guys had fun wake-boarding!!

July 16-30 - Missouri Trip

Why oh why must I be so crazy about getting everything from one trip into one post??!!! Because I don't have time to sit down and do this updating in one sitting it has literally taken me at least a week and a half to do this one! Ridiculous!!! Anyway, it's the synopsis of our 2 week trip to Missouri - it's a darn good thing that I misplaced my camera for almost a week of it or else I'm afraid this post would've been twice as long!



Our whole family (minus Tim and Jenna : / ) got to go to Missouri for my cousin Kendra's wedding! We all flew together! What a blast!!!!

In the St. Louis airport.

How cute are they?!!!

Sterling with cousin Kinsie.

Matthew told Kinsie that if she wasn't gonna let him hold Sterling that he'd just hold them both!

Uncle Logan, cousin Matthew and Sterling.


BREAK
Kinsie with little Alexia.

Pops chillin' with the little man on the hammock.

Kelsey with Sterling.

The bride!!

Ty and Kinsie.

Aunt Connie with Alexia.

Brunch on Thursday morning.

Pops and Sterling.

Shanny and her girl!

Sterling stole Alexia's pacifier - she wasn't too amused!!!

My dear cousin Anna helping me crumb-coat the wedding cakes! Kendra made our wedding cake so it made it extra special to get to do hers!!!

Anna and her darling baby girl, Rosalind

Me working on the cakes.

Sterling - ready and waiting to go to the rehearsal dinner.

The bride and Alexia!

My parents with Kendra

Sweet cousin April with Sterling

Cara with the babies

Andrea and Timothy with Sterling

Uncle Ty with the nakie boy!!

I love this one of Ry, Shan and Alexia!!

The wedding reception

Sterling and I with The Cakes! Kendra designed the whole thing and I had a lot of help executing the project!! It was the first cake that I've done since having a baby - it made it a little interesting but in the end it all worked out! All the black is fondant overlay.

Andrea and the boy!

Mikayla and the boy!

Too bad Ry and Shan missed out on this shot! Poor little Lexi Lou had a bit of a melt down earlier in the evening and they had to leave.

Ryan and Selah

Dear Heather and I

Beautiful aunt Connie and Selah!

Happy Selah!!

Me, Aunt Connie, Becky, and Aunt Clarissa

Dear U. Pall lovin' on the boy!

Uncle Jay and Aunt Faith - long time family friends!!! I was so blessed to get a night to catch up with them in their lovely home! It was a wonderful connection that I hadn't anticipated making.

Buds!! Andrea and Kelsey

I love this one of Becky and Derek with Selah!

Sterling is crazy nuts about drinking water out of a glass!! Cracks me up!

How great is this one - my little Fish in the tub!!! Just in the last month he has discovered that he can roll over onto his belly in the tub too : )

Crazy guys!! Ty, Kyle, U. Rodney, U. Dan, Logan and Pops

A bunch of us were still around on Sunday so all got to go to church together - took up a whole row!

U. Dan and A. Connie lovin' on Sterling

Matthew with Evalyn

Sweet cousins!! Katherine, Rebeca, Lydia and Sterling!

All hands on deck for a back massage!!

We had a wonderful dinner with U. Pall and A. Kathy's family on Monday night!!!

Sisters! My mom and A. Kathy with Heidi

Cousin lovin'

So far Sterling loves books!!! I hope that love will continue to grow as he does. Hopefully he'll be like his dad in that!!!

High-centered trying to escape from one of his many sleeping pallets!

We got to go out for some girl time and coffee our last day.

Sterling intently checking out the new taggie that Aunt Connie made for him!

July 4th - INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

I cannot believe I didn't take any more pictures than this!!!! I'm so bummed! Oh well, it was a blast of a day!!! We had a bunch of family and friends here to celebrate with us - about 27 people total!! It ended up raining so it was a FULL house!!! Because of the rain we thought what the fireworks were canceled. Right about dusk I heard the booms so we literally ran about a mile and a half over to the Navel Academy to watch them! We got in on about half of them - they were amazing!!! Again, no pictures : / What a memory we created : )!!!!!!

July 3rd - some fun ones...

These crack me up!!! Tim goofin' around with his boy!!!


Auntie Jenna with Sterling.

They stopped by for a quick visit cuz Jenna's parents were in town.
Jenna, Joy (Jenna's mom), and Sterling. This was the first that they got to see Sterling.

July 2nd - The park and a picnic!

Erin (our neighbor friends) and I took Jackson and Sterling to the park. It was Sterling's first time in a swing and he loved it!!!!


Sterling in the swing with Jackson - smart idea Erin!!


Later that evening we took a picnic down to the river so that we could watch Tim windsurf!

Erin, Jackson, and Rob.

It was such a perfectly peaceful evening!!!

Tim out on the board! This is such a great outlet for him and he loves it!!!!

Me and my boy!

Grossman family visit! June 20-24

Well, needless to say, it has been a busy last couple months! And once again I'm far too far behind!! I will say in my defense though, that I have tried to post a couple times but couldn't get pictures to upload so gave up.

My dear Aunt Rachel (my dad's baby sister) planned a trip to bring my grandparents out here for a wonderful visit. My dad's brother, Uncle Randy came too! It was a great long weekend full of hangin' out, food, fun, and laughter!!! Sterling and I practically lived in the Cape (the neighborhood where my immediate family lives) for those four days.

Saturday morning brunch at Ty and Jenna's! Brunch is the best!!!! And I'd have to say that our family really knows how to do it!!! We had eggs, fruit, baked oatmeal, french toast casserole, oj, coffee, etc...

Grandma with the babies!

Uncle Ty with Sterling and Alexia.


We went crabbing after breakfast! It was a fun new experience for our land-locked relatives : ) - they're from Indiana!

Grandma - checkin' out the catch!

Uncle Randy and Aunt Rachel in the background, Ryan and my mom in the foreground.

My handsome grandpa!!



The FEAST!!! At Ry and Shanny's house.




Sunday - we hung out at Ty and Jenna's beach all afternoon!!

Sterling looks so excited : )!!!!




The gang!

Logan on Tim's windsurf board!

Our personal photographers : ) My brother Ty and Baily, a family friend!

Handsome Ryan!



Brunch at Mom and Dad's on Monday morning!

Uncle Randy with Gretchen - their cousin who lives here in MD.


Uncle Logan with Sterling and I.



Uncle Logan with Alexia and Sterling! I just love these!!!!

Sweet Shanny and little Alexia!


Our last supper together at Ry and Shan's.
How cute are these faces??!!!


Aunt Shannon and Uncle Ryan lovin' on Sterling

We siblings with our grandparents!
Ryan, Ty, Grandpa, Grandma, me, and Logan.

Father's Day!!!

We got to enjoy a wonderful brunch before church - again thanks to Tim's mom and dad!


Then headed over to my parents for lunch and an afternoon together - it was a very enjoyable day!!
Sterling grillin' with Pops!

Pops and Alexia!

The dads and their babies : )

Brunch at Mom and Dad's!

My crazy brother, Ryan, and his little dolly!! I love this!!


Uncle Ty and Sterling

U. Logan and U. Ty and the babies!

Precious!!

All the aunts and uncles!


Sterling and his grandma!

Shanny's dad was here for a visit! It was wonderful to see him!

Checkin' her out!

Aunt Paula and her girls visit! - June 6-8

Tim's aunt and her 3 girls stopped to see us during their vacation! It was the first time for them to see Sterling! It was a crazy and fun weekend! They did the D.C. thing all day Saturday and we had a picnic after church on Sunday!

Aunt Paula and Sterling

Breakfast on the terrace! Tim made biscuits and eggs!

Tim introduced the girls to honeysuckle after church!




It was a HOT day for a picnic!!! I think the temp was around mid 90's and the humidity around 93 which made for a heat index of about 118!!! Needless to say - we were a bit wilty by the end of the day!!!

Joni & Rick's Wedding!

I was privileged to get my hands into the flowers and help out making some of the arrangements for the wedding!

My little man was such a trooper! He was great company - and a great distraction : ) !!


Maria and Erin making bouquets!

The Kiss!



I'm always amazed and blessed by how well Sterling does at events like these!!

The Nationals!! - June 6th

What a blast this day was!!!
My brother Logan, his friend Dan, and Sterling and I went over to D.C. on Friday to meet up with Tim. I took dinner so that we could eat at Tim's office before we went to the game. It was a perfect evening!!!

Waiting in the metro with Uncle Logan!

Such serious faces!

The boys!

Coming up out of the metro! We were lucky to get on the first train and were crammed in like sardines!!!




Check out this double chin!!!






Sterling was so good all night!! He took a nap on Tim's lap for part of the game.
Headed home

our sleepy boy!!

Little MAN!!

How grown up does this little outfit make him look!!!

Ty's Birthday - June 2

A fun celebration of Ty's life. We had a lovely dinner at his and Jenna's house!

The birthday boy!

Auntie Jenna and the Boy!


Goofy boys!!

He is so ticklish!!! And his cute little laugh is so irresistible!!!

I love him so much!!!

I don't recall how much I've kept up with sharing Sterling's developments so here's a quick rundown...
May 11th (Mother's Day) - he rolled from his front to back for the first time
May - sometime around the middle of May he went from cooing to talking! Very funny!!!
June 1st - he got his first tooth
June 11th - he's now rolling over from back to front
June 13th - his second tooth is through the gum
June 13th - this morning was the first time that I've seen him want something that's out of his reach and be determined to get to it - and he did!!! He's not getting up on his hands and knees yet but it's clear that that's right around the corner!!!
It's mind boggling how fast they grow and develop at this age!!!
I just love these of him!! I actually just took them yesterday! I'm almost caught up to date so I'm letting myself slide again : )

Our actual anniversary - May 28th

So, as I was working on dinner I learned that I can no longer leave Sterling in his swing with out being strapped in : ) He's getting more and more mobile every day!

It was a marvelous evening for dinner on our roof!

Our menu for the evening was:
Grilled Steak
Scalloped Potatoes
Broiled Asparagus and
Home-made Wheat Bread
..accompanied by a wonderful Cabernet Sauvignon - compliments of Miss Robyn!

...And for dessert...
Peach and Blueberry Cobbler with home-made Whipped Cream and Coffee


We had a very enjoyable time sharing our celebration with Rob, Erin and Jackson!!

Memorial Day - May 26th

Our friends (and neighbors) Rob, Erin and Jackson joined us for a wonderful dinner at mom and dads on Memorial Day!

Our 2nd Anniversary!! - May 23rd

I will just start by saying that my dear husband had to be one of the happiest men in the world when he asked if we could take the motorcycle and I said yes : ) !!! It was his turn to plan our anniversary (we trade off planning every other year), so he surprised me with a lovely camping trip! We left Sterling with my parents and headed out on Friday afternoon into southern Pennsylvania.
We had the most wonderful weekend together! It was so sweet and refreshing to just have time to reconnect with each other surrounded by the peace and beauty of God's fabulous creation! We laughed together more that we had in a while! I told Tim it was like we both turned into comedians for a couple days! The greatest story of our weekend was - looking forward to going to bed the first night only to find that our air-mattress had gone flat! It wouldn't have been half so bad had it not been a really cold night and the ground just sucked all the warmth out of us!!! We settled in as best as we could and fell asleep. I woke up about an hour later hoping that it was near morning only to find that it was midnight. Some how that hit my funny bone and the only thing that stopped my laughing was that my dear husband wasn't quite so amused : ) We fell back to sleep only to wake up hourly until dawn. By the second time that we woke up Tim began to see the humor so we laughed till we cried each time we woke up! At some point we scooted as far to one side of the mattress as we could and Tim pulled the rest of it over us for another layer : ) Oh what memories we created!!! My philosophy on things like that is that memories are better made when things don't go quite as planned!

Loaded down and ready to go! Tim managed to fit ALL of our camping gear, food, etc. onto the bike - I was very impressed!

Beautiful drive!


Our first morning - eating oatmeal out of the pan together : )

Tim made a really yummy taco salad for dinner the second day!

My handsome husband!!

My great provider : )

Our little tent.


The Iron-master's Mansion
The park where we camped is the location of the former Pine Grove Furnace, an iron furnace that operated for 131 years. We had a lot of fun exploring the history of our surroundings. The highlight (especially because we just happen to be reading Uncle Tom's Cabin together) was finding out that the Iron-master was part of the Underground Railroad. His mansion had been built with 3 hidden rooms under it and we had the privilege of a personal tour of them.

The round windows were used as signals for approaching refuge seekers.

Just to give you an idea of how small the hidden rooms were...Tim is standing on the ground here.

This is all the further I could stand in the underground room.



Packed up and ready to head home. After having such a great time together it was exciting to anticipate seeing our little man!!!

The Blue Angles show! - May 21st

One of the many fun things about living here in Annapolis is getting to watch the annual Blue Angles show. They put on an amazing show for the Navy's commissioning week every year in May. This was my first year to get to see it as I've been out of town every May since I've lived here! We watched the show from a boat at the mouth of the Severn river and the planes flew right over us! We were afraid that the show would get rained out this year but in the end the weather was nearly perfect - just a bit cold!!

They flew so low you could almost see the pilots!


Sterling was a champ! He napped through the whole thing which was amazing considering that the jets were flying directly over head and were so loud!!!

Sweet Alexia!

Some daddy lovin'!


It's hard to believe that she had gained 8oz by her first week ped. appointment!! She's so tiny and delicate!!


How sweet are they!

My first Mothers Day!!!

How can one ever even begin to put into words the mystery and wonder that it is to be a mom! My eyes fill with tears as I sit here and ponder such a thing. I am overcome with feelings that are far too great to describe... I always wondered if, once I had a child of my own, I would understand in a more real way the sacrifice that it was for God to send His only son to die on the cross for us... On one hand I feel that I can now answer that question with a resounding YES! And on the other hand, now that I have experienced this indescribable depth of feeling for another being - I am that much more certain that the profundity of what HE felt is infinitely beyond our ability to comprehend. My prayer...is for the grace to live life in a way that appreciates that extraordinary sacrifice - made on my behalf so as to make it possible for me to be reconciled to HIM! I stand in awe...

I feel blessed beyond imagination and so privileged to be a mom! It has only been 4 months, yet try as I may, I cannot fathom what life was like without Sterling!


We got to enjoy a wonderful brunch together at one of our favorite restaurants in downtown Annapolis! It was a sweet surprise from my mother-in-law. She had called Tim and asked him to take me out as their gift to me (they live in Indiana). What a lovely surprise! I had never had their brunch but had always wished that we could go some day. It was perfect! We got there right as they opened and beat the crowds! Our waitress was sweet, the food was fantastic, and Sterling slept through the entire thing!



After breakfast and church we went to my parents and hung out with my family for the rest of the day. We ate, played a few games...and just enjoyed being together!

May 9th - Cousin Christi's grad party

Congratulations Christi!! We are so proud of you!!
Family gatherings are always a blast! I just hate it that we don't manage to do them more often!! What a blessing though, to have family close by!!
Uncle Ryan and Sterling!

Christi, me and Tim

Pops and Sterling!

Shanny (still pregnant) and Christi in the kitchen.


More of Pops and Sterling : )



Beautiful sisters! - aunt Colleen and my mom

Bath time!!

How is it that cellulite is so darn cute on tiny bodies??

Me and my boy!

May 5th

Our good friends Dary and Anna dropped by for an over night visit on their way (out of their way) to Michigan. It was so great to see them!

We had the family over for dinner while they were here.

Sterling is jonny-on-the-spot when you need help waking up : )

Anna and Sterling

We met when a mutual friend, Stacy Elliott, from Washington state called me a year ago to ask favor. She said that they had friends at Walter Reed Hospital, the military hospital in D.C., who were getting married that weekend. Dary and Anna were had gotten engaged the previous November and had planned to get married last summer/fall but then Dary was injured in the war so was sent home. Long story short they decided to bump the wedding up to April. So you can imagine the hurtles of throwing together a wedding in short time and in a strange place!! Stacy called me to see if there was any chance that I could help out in any way! So, I called Anna, out of the blue, gave her a quick background to who I was and asked her how I could help! I was able to shop for decorations for her, and then help with their reception - right up my alley - I had so much fun!!!! I didn't even get to actually meet Dary and Anna until the end of the reception! It wasn't till after the wedding that we got to develop a friendship with them! Tim and I visited them in the hospital a few times until Dary was strong enough to make the 45 minute drive over to Annapolis. Then they came to stay with us 2-3 weekends a month! What a great time! They have since moved down to Fort Bragg and we miss them!!!

Welcome to the world Alexia Ryan Grossman!!!

For this joyous news I will break my rule of not skipping ahead to current events until I have caught up on the old ones!
Oh my goodness what a trip, I can't believe I'm a 'blood' aunt!!! And it's hard to believe that she's already here - 2 weeks early!!! We are ecstatic!! I got the call from Ryan, my brother, at about 7:44 yesterday morning, "We're at the hospital!!!" Shanny had gone into labor around 4 yesterday morning. Sterling and I were to the hospital by 9-ish and hung out all day till she was born around 1:30! How amazingly quick for their first baby!! Shanny only pushed for about 20 minutes! She was amazing!!!

Waiting...

The expectant dad!!

Chillin' with auntie Jenna!

'Oh', Sterling seems to say, "you say my cousin is on the way??!!"

She's here!!!! And Sterling can't believe it!!! : )

Beautiful little Alexia Ryan Grossman!!! Born 6 lbs 1 oz and just shy of 19 inches long!!! She is so tiny!!! About 25% smaller than Sterling was at 8 lbs and 21 and a quarter inches!!! The difference is just amazing when they're that small!! It was so crazy to go from holding Sterling whose around 15 lbs now to holding her...what a little feather!!!

Check out all her beautiful hair!!!


Sweet baby doll!! She makes the most adorable and tiniest little squeaks!!

May 4th - Jackson's B-day in West Virginia

Wow I'm so far behind!!! Jenna and Ty went with us to West Virginia for an afternoon of fun celebrating Jackson's (our sweet neighbor's son) 1st birthday!! It was the most beautiful day!

The guys had fun playing a couple rounds of croquet!

Jenna and Jackson look rather perplexed...or bored : )

Ty and Sterling!


Can't believe we're a little family! And I really can't believe how few pictures we have of the 3 of us!

Sterling Faces!

How ridiculously cute is this little bath-robe!!!!



This is one of the funniest faces that he makes!!! He tilts his little head down and looks up at you all at once...I swear he looks like a little alien baby : ) It makes me laugh every time!!
Oh so precious!!!

Pops comes home - April 29th

Pops finally came home after being gone for 2 months! We got to go pick him up at the airport! It's funny that he and Sterling were matching that day! He said that Sterling was a different person than the one that he had left! I'm pretty sure that it was a big deal that Pops got his first smile out of Sterling the day he left for the PI. By the time he got back smiling was second nature to Sterling!

I love this one of them!

Too bad Sterling doesn't look more happy in this one : )

FISH lips!!!

Many of you know that as Sterling swam around in my belly we called him our little Fish! As you can imagine - we flipped out when he made this face for the first time a couple weeks ago as we were all sitting around the table after Sunday lunch at my parents. I wish we could've had a video of the whole thing!!! It was hilarious!!! Every one was dying and Sterling just sat there with a quizzical look on his face - probably wondering what on earth had gotten into all of us : )!!! Too funny!

Good to be home!

It's nice to be back home and with family! And we're lovin' that it's finally nice enough to eat outside again!!! This meal was amazing!! Jenna made chicken and veg curry over rice!

2 weeks TOO long!!

Tim - checkin' out how much our boy had grown in the 2 weeks since he'd seen him!!

Other fun friends we saw along the way...

Dear sweet Robyn! It was so good to see her - such a great friend! The only bummer was that we didn't get enough time with her!!



It was great to run into Liz at church! We were in a Bible study together before I moved to MD.


More dear friends - Tom and Lorraine!! I shared a wonderful meal with them on Sunday! I'm bummed not to have gotten a picture of Tom too.

Final Stop!

Our last stop was to spend a few wonderful days with Michael, Amber, Kobe and Andrew!
It was such a blessing to have some time to catch up with Amber face to face! And to share the 'mommy' life together for a bit! We went to church together a couple times - it was sweet to be back at The Well! And I enjoyed getting to go to her moms group!
We took walks, went to the park, ate lots, stayed up late talking (a lot harder to recover from the lack of sleep now that we're older and have kids!) and sharing sweet fellowship, hung out with other friends, drank lots of coffee, etc... : ) Oh, and I remembered how to have the camera out and take pictures - so there are LOTS!!!

...just can't get enough...

Sterling was such a trooper!!! For the most part he was pretty patient as the boys loved on him!! They were so sweet with him and could never seem to get enough - especially little Andrew! He was so funny!!!

One of the highlights was to visit and taste their 'favorite little tutie (cookie) place'!!!


It didn't seem to bother Andrew that Sterling was busy eating : )


A yummy lunch out with Amber while her dear husband watched the boys!

Some sweet Auntie Amber lovin'!!

Fun at the park!!

When Tara asked Sophi why she liked to where her sun glasses in the store, Sophi said, "because they make people laugh!" What a little nut!!

...silly Andrew!

Sterling, how 'bout you be the fire-fighter this time?!



Andrew seemed to be especially intrigued by one so much smaller than himself! Almost every time that Sterling was sleeping and I'd come out of the room with out him, Andrew would look past me as though something was missing!

and more...

3rd Stop - Visalia

We got to spend a few days with Suzana (an old roommate), Victor, Lea, and Mia! It was fun sharing mommy life with Suzana! Sterling and Mia are only a little over a month apart so we were doing the whole routine together! Fun!!!

Lea lovin' Sterling and Mia

Enjoying the ride!!!


Beautiful Lea!

2nd Stop Fresno - My CA parents -Rob and Vicki Carter

On Friday we flew to Fresno. Rob picked us up and we dropped by to see Kristen and Lincoln (his daughter in law and grandson)! What a joy to meet little Lincoln!


This too was a rich, relaxing, and refreshing time!!! I was so blessed by rich conversations with both Rob and Vicki individually! I just love them!!!


Out to lunch with Vicki!

How cute are they!!!!

My first big adventure with Sterling - A 2 week trip to CA!

Our first stop was to visit Kaitlyn, Ryan, and Noelle in Costa Mesa!! Sterling was the most amazing little traveler! He never made a peep on the flights! He ate, hung out, and slept like he does here at home. He probably thought it was the greatest thing ever - to be held for so many hours straight!! I, on the other hand, made the silliest mistake I've ever made in all my traveling!!! Instead of getting off the plane to make our transfer like we were supposed to, we stayed on and ended up in LAX! Thankfully we were able to catch a shuttle to Costa mesa! I was just glad we didn't end up in another state!!!
Anyway, we had a blast! Even with two babies we were able to have a couple great conversations! It was refreshing and such a blessing to have time to reconnect!! I did a terrible job of remembering to take pictures so this is all I have!

Kaitlyn was 36 weeks along while we were there! She is carrying another very busy little girl!



My little man...


Us and our babies!!!

Filling out his bassinet!

1 Month

2 Months - I love seeing his growth! It's amazing how fast it happens!!!

Growing so fast!!

1 Month - he was so skinny!


2 Months - and bulking up!

Ty and Jenna over for dinner on Wednesday!

Mom and Logan over for dinner last Tuesday!

Logan was just getting the biggest kick out of Sterling sitting in the La-Z-Boy!!!

Our sweet boy!

Jackson checkin' Sterling out!

It was so cute - Jackson went straight for Sterling's feet!

Rob, our dear neighbor, and Jackson, his son, and our little man!

Tim's parents came to visit last weekend!

The thumb!

Why is it that when it's your kid everything they do is so amazing?!!!! Sterling was talking himself to sleep 2 days ago then got really quiet. I went in to see if he had fallen asleep to find that he had discovered his thumb : ) !!! He was going nuts on it! He has no concept that it's actually attached to his hand so when he jerks it and pulls it out it makes him so frustrated! It's so funny to watch!!!

The Pruett's visit!

Family friends from the good old days in the Philippines came to visit - it was wonderful to see them and so much fun to catch up!

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Shannon

Lovin' on our boy!

Gettin' some daddy lovin' before he had to go to work!

So this is how i found Sterling sleeping yesterday morning - I couldn't resist taking a picture : )

Sunday at U. Paul and A. Colleen's!

Sterling with cousin Christy (my cousin)

We celebrated U. Paul and Justin's b-days on Sunday. A. Colleen made awesome lasagna and eggplant parmesan!!

Chris' visit!

Chris, a friend from work, stopped by Friday afternoon to meet Sterling!

Saying good-bye to Pops!

We took my dad to the airport last Wednesday for his 2 month trip to the Philippines! It's nuts to think that Sterling will be 3 times as old by the time Pops gets back!!!

Sterling's first hockey game!

March 3rd we got to go to a Capitals game in D.C.! Ty and Jenna went with - we had a blast! Sterling slept through the whole thing!

A fantastic gift from a wonderful friend!

We absolutely love our new metromamma wrap!!!

1 Month Old

I'm usually terrible about remembering to take pictures so it has taken intentional effort for me to get these!!! I keep hoping that I'll be able to maintain this consistency!!! So, these are ones I took last monday (the 25th) of our little man at 1 month! It's crazy to think that in just 11 more he'll be a year!!! It is already flying by so fast!!!

Looking so grown up at 1 month!!!

Usurping Dad's Throne! : )

Tim's Parents Came for Sterling's Birth

We somehow managed to not have any pictures of Tim's parents with Sterling so we had to wait for the mailman. It was a crazy week but it was good to have them here.

Paupau and Granny Came to Visit

Pops and Paupau hangin out with the man

Paupau loves Granny too! : )

Granny just couldn't get enough