Throughout the World, and Close to Home

We've had a lot going on recently. Dave traveled with his good friend, Rob to Peru for a week, and during that time, his parents made the long journey to South Africa for 2 weeks. I must admit, I was a little nervous to have so many of my favorite people out of the country at the same time, but my little buddies and I intentionally packed our days pretty full in order to keep busy and our minds off of the distance between us.

Rob and his wife, Nicole, own a local coffeeshop, and they just so happen to be friends with a U.S. diplomat residing in Peru, who knows some of the coffee plantation farmers. For a portion of their time, the guys stayed at one of the plantations, and had the opportunity to learn more about the farming process of coffee beans...I now have a much greater appreciation for my daily cup of coffee! In addition to hiking the vast countryside, they also went dune bugging and sandboarding (essentially the same as snowboarding, except on sand) on Peru's famous dunes, and tried every favorite Peruvian dish during their 7 days there. They had a great time, but I breathed a sigh of relief when they had their feet safely planted back in the States. I'll never forget watching Will's face when he spotted Dave coming off the plane...he literally sprinted to him and wrapped his arms around his neck...so sweet.

Dave & Rob in the Andes Mountains

This is the coffee plantation where they spent a few nights

Alpacas

a street vendor showing off some venomous snakes!

Coffee berries that Dave & Rob hand-picked.

Clean coffee beans drying in the sun...ready for the roasting process.

Sandboarding

Upon Dave's and his parents' return, we had a wonderful long Memorial Day weekend at the cabin. I have such fond memories growing up at my family's lake house in Michigan, and am thrilled that our boys will have similar experiences. It gets more and more fun the older they get. Currently, Will & Graham's favorite activity while there is going for rides around the lake in the golf cart. Every Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day, the local volunteer firemen put on a pancake feed at the lake and Will thinks it's pretty cool meeting the firemen and climbing on their trucks and ambulance in the parking lot.

I was grateful to have a long holiday weekend with Dave following his trip, because he had to leave again on Tuesday morning for a work trip, and didn't return until Friday evening. After having those trips back-to-back, I observed firsthand how much children truly need a father figure. All-in-all, Will is a very sweet and obedient 3-year old boy, but he acted out and test me a lot more during the days that Dave was gone. I found myself praying for patience often, but more than anything it further cemented in my mind the importance of the father role in the family. And, I might add, it gave me a greater appreciation for widowed and single moms!

Kind of a random photo I threw in here, as it's a few weeks old, but Will was so proud of the painting he made for Grammy. He was also showing off his smoothie popsicle :)

our little gangsta'

The, "I'm Not Very Creative With Titles" Post

I'm not one who typically posts stats from doctor's visits, but since I haven't so much as posted stats a single time since Graham's birth, I thought it might be nice to provide some updates. He is long & lean just like Will...so I guess both of them are just like their dad ;-) At Graham's 6-month check-up yesterday, he weighed in at 15.5 lbs, and 28" long; which put him in the 12 percentile for weight, and the 91 percentile for height.

He has turned out to be a very smiley, happy baby, so he's making up for all the crying and screaming he did for the first few months ;) And although he's happy, he still has yet to sleep through the night, so we're working on that. We were much firmer with Will at an early age and let him cry himself to sleep at a younger age, but didn't feel right allowing Graham to do so since he had such a hard time with acid reflux. Thankfully, he's improved a lot in that area within the last few weeks, so once he gets over his 100th cold of the season (okay, so that might be a bit of an exaggeration), I'm feeling ok with letting him cry.

It's still amazing to me how quickly babies change - I swear sometimes the transformation happens overnight! Graham had beach-blond hair up until about a week ago, and now it's getting darker...closer to Will's hair color. You'll see in some of the pictures how Graham's hair was kinda fuzzy and spiky, and that's now changed, too! I'm so glad I took some photos to document that stage!

Graham & Will constantly make each other laugh, and they feed off one other which makes me laugh! I love my two boys, and feel so blessed that the Lord chose us as their parents. We continue to pray for wisdom as we parent...this stuff isn't as black & white as I so naively used to think!

My Community Bible Study is out for the summer, so we're planning a lot of fun activities during the day to keep us busy. One of our favorite things is loading up in the jogging stroller and enjoying the outdoors. We're taking the boys downtown tomorrow morning to the farmer's market, grilling out with some friends for lunch, then Dave and I are going on a date - woo hoo!

I love taking Will and Graham to the gym during the week, and we're excited for the outdoor pool to open up after Memorial Day. I, of course, will take them swimming from time to time, but a few of my girlfriends have memberships to the same gym, so you'd better believe we'll take advantage of the childcare so we can relax by the pool together, too ;-) Today I was there, and rather than workout, I decided to grab a cup of joe in the cafe and just have some R&R to myself - it was stupendous!

A Moment to Brag on my Hubby

He's the bestest :)

Various Happenings & Updates

Seems like we've been living our life full-speed ahead these days...I gotta get back on this blogging track. One very exciting piece of news is that my sister-in-law, Kristin got engaged a couple weeks ago! I was extremely honored that she asked me to be her maid-of-honor (which I guess technically I would be considered the matron-of-honor...is it just me or does that just sound old?). She and her fiance, Dan are planning to get married this coming October, so it's been fun to be part of all the wedding planning and very important decisions that are currently being made for their brief 6-month engagement :)

My younger brother, Scott came to visit this past weekend, and we had a great time. It was the first time he was able to meet Graham, so that was really fun. Will was excited to see him...for a few days leading up to his arrival, Will would wake up saying, "Uncle Scott coming...2 more days!" Scott graduated from college back in December, and took a job in Michigan, so we weren't able to see him when we visited the rest of my family last month. We had a great time just bumming around. Thanks for coming, Scott - hope to see you again, soon!

I feel terrible that I haven't given many updates concerning Graham lately. It's hard to believe that he'll be 6 months old next week. In some ways it seems like the time has flown by, but in other ways it seems like he was born yesterday. He was having a tough time gaining weight for a period of time, but it seems as though he's finally catching up. I take him in for his 6-month checkup on May 12th, so I'm anxious to see how much he's gained. He has turned into quite the little giggle monster, and most times is a very happy baby. Unfortunately he came down with a little bug of some kind as of yesterday, but he is sleeping fairly well regardless, so we're praying he gets over it quickly; and of course praying Will doesn't catch it from him!

Will was sick a few weeks ago, and I thought it was practically a miracle that Graham didn't get sick, because they've gotten to be pretty close, those two brothers. I love to watch them interact and make each other laugh...it makes my day to see them getting along so well. I suppose I better enjoy it now, because I'm sure that'll change at some point down the road ;-) Will is a wonderful older brother - always so concerned when Graham is upset, and loves to hold him and give him hugs and kisses...melts my heart!

We've got a busy summer up ahead. Dave is traveling with his good friend, Rob to Peru for a week at the end of May. Rob is very adventurous and certainly more of a risk-taker than my dear husband. I asked Rob to please bring Dave home in one piece ;-) I'm sure they'll have lots of fun stories to tell upon their return, but in the meantime, if you think to pray for their safe travels I'd appreciate it. Dave's parents are going to Africa on a missions trip in mid-May, so pray for them, too, when they come to mind! I'm excited to report, that , have a trip to look forward to as well. I'm heading back down to Destin with 2 girlfriends for a long weekend in June, and we'll be staying with my parents - we can't wait! The boys will be at home with Dave's mom during the week days, and of course Dave will be with them at night. Although I love being a mommy of two, I must admit I'm very much looking forward to a little break in the routine :) The plan is to come back relaxed, refreshed, well-read, with sand in my flip-flops and the sound of the ocean ringing in my ears, and tan ;-)

Here's a short video of Graham's first time in the swing...as evidence by his giggle, he loved it!

Flowers, Bunnies, Eggs & Such...

We are LOVING this weather (can I get an Amen?)!! I'm sure most reading this would agree that we've all had a very unique winter this year, and although the snow was pretty, we got a little tired of it around here. I don't think we have ever been more ready for the warmer temps. I've enjoyed taking the boys out for a couple long stroller rides, and yesterday was so nice that we even saw some kids in our neighborhood taking turns on a Slip & Slide!

At this point we are looking for any excuse to enjoy the great outdoors. Last Thursday I hosted a playdate at our house...we had an Easter egg hunt and a picnic in our backyard. The weather couldn't have been better - it was a sunny 80 degrees.

This was the first year we attempted coloring eggs with Will. He didn't have much of an attention span (he was pretty much done after 1 egg), but I had fun :) One thing Will couldn't get enough of, though, was hunting for eggs. Not only did he get to hunt with his friends, but we did another one for him on Saturday, and then Grammy & Grandpa hid eggs for him on Sunday at their house, too.