Some Smiles from the Last 2 Weeks

Sooo... There have officially been 4 in our house for 2 weeks now. We're loving it and it's so much fun watching Izzy with Chip. I know there will be plenty of sibling arguments in the years to come, but she already loves her little brother. She looks for him first thing every morning and will not go down at night w/o a kiss and some love for him. She has been very patient, for the most part, w/ all the time-consuming things that come w/ new babies. She's taken great interest in her babies and practices diaper changing and feeding them regularly. She wants to help w/ all we do w/ Chip too -- this is particularly interesting when I'm nursing. I pretty much end up w/ 2 kiddos in my lap. :) So long as she doesn't squish him, we're good to go.

The best laugh of our time together since Chip has been here had to take place last week. I was changing Chip and Iz was squooched right up against me "helping." He let go some gas that had more to it than just air and lo and behold, he had POOPED on Izzy's hand. She looked at me w/ this completely astounded look and I just died laughing. After about 2 seconds, she too was rolling. Oh my goodness, how we laughed. She has thoroughly enjoyed telling everyone that Chip pooped on her hand. Must admit he missed me that time, but my goodness, little boys pee a lot more often than little girls when de-diapered and it goes a heck of a lot farther!!!!!

Unbelievable -- I got all of this typed and both kids are still snoozing!!! We're going to master juggling 2 after all. Famous last words..... :)

Izzy's Funny Faces

Loss and New Life

How strange to sit here looking at this beautiful 4.5 day old little boy and think of what we were doing exactly 2 years ago. Tonight as we snuggle and love on and get to know this precious baby boy, we know that 2 years ago we were snuggling on, loving on, and saying goodbye to Catie. In some ways we wonder how 2 years have passed already and in others we wonder how in the world it's been only 2 years. Time is a strange thing. Chip's arrival has definitely relieved the anticipation of tomorrow a bit. I don't think I'll ever be able to put words to all the emotions we feel in the month of January. What a wide range of feelings God made us humans capable of feeling.

So... we will continue to celebrate Catie, Izzy, and Chip... and we will continue to miss Catie... and life will continue to bustle forward. We will be grateful for the tremendous blessings in our life even as we continue to grieve our loss.

We are all adjusting well to being a household of 4. Izzy has handled things like a champ. My mom has been here, so Iz has been getting lots of extra love as we adjust to juggling 2 kiddos. Chip is a snuggler and we are loving it. We're definitely lacking some sleep, but that's ok. We'll update more later this week... We're just busy soaking up Chip, loving on Izzy, and processing all that comes with January.

Thanks for checking in!!

More Pictures

Iz was a bit tired, so no smile from her, but here the 4 of us are.










The other baby in the pic is Jackson, our new nephew. The pic of Tre' on the couch w/ Chip also has his sister, Tasha (Jackson's mom), and baby Jackson in it. Jackson is 6 weeks older than Chip. :)

Chip!!

Pictures of Chip!

He's here and he's so handsome. We can't wait to get all of us home and under the same roof! :)

Welcome Chip!

Charles James IV is here!!

Aunt Nik Nik here.

I'm posting for Jenny because she can't stay awake right now and they don't have wireless at the hospital.

Both mom and baby are doing great. Chip was born right around 8:00 am and is 8 lbs 1 oz. He is 20 1/2 inches long.

Jenny will post as soon as she is able to with pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Check back a little later tonight and I will try to get a picture up.

Some Christmas Pictures!

January

So it hit me today that on Saturday I was exactly at the point in this pregnancy that I was in my pregnancy with Izzy on the day that Catie died. I honestly do not remember ever being "this" pregnant w/ Iz. I know it's just because of all that was going on, but it's amazing to look back and see the grace that was given to us to carry us through those days. I cannot believe that Chip's birthday, Catie's Heaven Day, and Izzy's birthday are all falling w/in 2 weeks of each other.

2 years seems like so long ago. Someone was at our house a few weeks ago and looked at Izzy and said, I can't believe she is almost 2. And there was a big pregnant pause b/c the immediate thought that came next for all of us was "and that Catie's been gone nearly 2 years." I was so worried that every time I looked at Iz I would get kind of a mental picture of how long it's been since Catie left us. It really hasn't been like that at all... for lots of reasons I guess... we're so head over heels in love w/ Izzy that it's impossible to look at her and think of loss, she keeps us so busy (she walks no where -- she has one speed and it's fast) that there's not time to think about that, and we're learning... We still feel her loss every single day, and I don't think anything will ever change that. When something so sacred is ripped from your life, the hole doesn't disappear, you just learn to live with it. But we are learning and we will continue to learn.