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!!