7 months old

Our little Lindsey is 7+ months old. She is sitting up, rolling over, eating all her fruits and veggies, has cut 2 teeth, been on her first plane ride (and was awesome!) and warms our hearts with her smiles and giggles. We knew we had a good baby, but after putting her through 100 degree heat at Sea World, she proves it! What a happy girl. She continues to be a blessing in our lives…our sweet little gift from God. Natalie and Amy adore her and Nate and I can’t get enough of her. The other day Nate asked, “Were are other babies this cute?” I said, “Yes! ” She just seems more flexible because she has to be…with the other two babies, I wasn’t running kids back and forth to their activities!

Here are some shots of her trying out Cheerios for the first time:

Florida Vacation

June 15-24 we had a wonderful family vacation in Orlando, Florida! Why would we want to go to Orlando in June? Well, Nate had to go to a work function for 3 days and some dear friends of ours (also attending work function) suggested we make it an extended family vacation with them!

It ended up being a great trip. We got to spend time with our friends (who moved to PA 2 years ago), spent lots of time in the pool, visited with college friends that live in the area, spent 2 days at Sea World, and one day at Magic Kingdom. It was also some much needed family time for us…the girls loved have Daddy around so much!

When we went to Sea World it was record breaking temps over 100 degrees! Lindsey was awesome. She was the happiest and least crabbiest of us all. Just continued to prove to be a great baby!

Enjoy some shots from our trip!

Chicago 13.1 Marathon

At the beginning of March, I decided to start running. Within days, I decided to motivate myself and train for a half marathon. It sounded totally crazy, but I needed something to motivate me to actually run. The first month was tough. I hated every minute of each run. But my sister (who created my training program) really pushed me. I remember in April telling her that I “bit off more than I could chew”. There was no way I was going to be able to run 13 miles. She basically said, “Well, you signed up, so you might as well keep trying.”

I am extremely proud to say that yesterday I ran my first half marathon! It makes me want to cry just thinking about it. I know that many people run races. But for me this was more than a race. This was kind of momentous for me. I am not a disciplined person. Over the past seven years, I have put on a lot of weight, have had three children, and survived cancer. The fact that I started running 3 months ago and ran 13 miles yesterday is a huge accomplishment for me. I wanted to take control of my body and my mind this year. I think I’ve made progress! :)

My sister was always planning on running the race with me, but not WITH me. She has been a runner for years and would have ran at her own pace…way ahead of me. She decided to run at my much slower pace so we could do the race together. This was such a great bonding experience for me! Dana is a talker :) and talked to me the whole race…which showed how easy it was for her! She distracted me from my discomfort and pushed me to continue on when I wanted to walk. She teared up with me as we rounded the corner to the finish line and made the whole experience more enjoyable for me. Isn’t she awesome!?

The first six miles I felt good and ran the whole time. At 9 miles I was pretty beat, but Nate and Walter (Dana’s husband) were there to cheer us on. Those last four miles were tough. Dana encouraged and pushed me. It would have been hard to finish without her help! It was also wonderful to have two of my dear friends there to cheer us on…they got up at 4 am with us!

Here are a few photos!

6 months old

Lindsey is 6 months old! Hard to believe that it has been half a year. Last year at this time, I wanted to hibernate for the summer since I was so tired and nauseous! Lindsey has been such a gift to our family. I can’t imagine her not in our lives. She is such a happy baby. She makes me smile all day long…

Also hard to believe that 6 months ago I was pregnant and since January have lost 32 pounds and can run 12 miles! The half-marathon is June 7 in Chicago. I have been training really hard and can’t believe it is only 16 days away. This is and will be a huge accomplishment for me…for someone who has been very out of shape and never a runner!

We are so excited for summer here! Amy has been asking for a year when we can go camping and swimming again. We are going camping this weekend with friends and our girls can’t wait! Amy has her last day of preschool today and Natalie’s last day of school is June 4. I am really looking forward to spending lots of quality time with my girls. Nate and I also want to spend many days this summer showing the girls Chicago.

Lindsey’s Baptism

Today we had Lindsey baptized. I was trying to explain to the girls that it was a really important day. I explained that when we baptize babies, we are applying the promises that God has made to his covenant people. The parents are telling God and the church that they will teach their child to love Jesus. And the church is promising to come alongside and help the parents do this.

Mommy: We baptize babies to promise God and the church that we will teach them to love Jesus.

Amy: We love Jesus! You are doing a good job. :)

Then tonight I was praying with the girls and here is Natalie’s prayer…by my memory:

Jesus, thank you for Lindsey’s baptism today. Thank you that she didn’t cry. I am so glad that I got to see her get baptized. I promise, Lord, that I will teach her all about you. That I will tell her how you died on the cross for our sins. I will teach her to love you. I also pray that our church will teach her to love you too. Thank you Jesus for this wonderful day. Amen.

I

If you read my last post, you know that Nate was able to baptize our dear friends little girl, Ainsley.

It’s been five months…

Lindsey turned 5 months old last Sunday. She is a very happy content baby. People often say, “such pretty eyes!” or “is she always this content?” or “she looks a lot like Amy!”. She loves to smile, coo and talk to us. She has become a longer napper and goes to bed very easy. She still sucks her thumb and likes to chew on her tongue.

Tomorrow our sweet girl will be baptized…we do not believe that she is “saved” through this process but it is a covenant between us, our community, and God to raise her to love the Lord. Her best friend, Ainsley (3 months old) will also be baptized and Nate will be baptizing her. This is very meaningful to us as her parents are dear friends of ours. This will be the first baptism Nate “performs”.

In other news, it is hard to believe that five months ago I could barely walk from pregnancy and this morning I ran eight miles! Yes. EIGHT. miles. I started running in March to get into shape since I can’t go back to my gym until Lindsey is 6 months old (for her to go into the childcare there). I asked my sister to create a running plan for me. It was really tough the first few weeks, but I am actually starting to enjoy the running more. I have also officially decided to train (I kind of have been) for the Chicago half marathon in June. Dana and I plan to run it together. A month ago I really thought it would never be possible, but now I think I might be able to pull it off! I have also lost 25 pounds since January. The running has actually stalled my weight loss a bit, but I see a definite change in the muscle tone of my body. So, I have been working hard to take care of myself these past few months.

4 1/2 months

Lindsey is 4 1/2 months old now. She is a very happy baby unless she is hungry or tired. She is much more predictable in her schedule so it is easy to keep her happy! She loves to face out when you hold her, hold and suck on her toys, play in her excersaucer, smile and babble, and her new favorite thing is eating rice cereal! She loves to smile at her sisters and suck her thumb! We are so thankful for our baby girl.

Slow and steady…

I have been doing Weight Watchers since Jan. 8…and have lost 14.8 pounds so far! Plus…went down a size. I still have a long way to go to reach my goal, but I know that the best weight loss is slow weight loss. Nate has been very encouraging to me and my mom has helped by watching the girls twice a week so I can workout on their treadmill. So, slow and steady!

3 months old

Our little Lindsey is three months old. She loves to smile and look at her toys, has started sucking her thumb (our only baby to do this so far!), has her first cold, and regularly sleeps all night. She is such a sweet girl.

10 weeks old

Forgot to post pictures of Lindsey at 2 months…so here they are!

Lindsey continues to be a good baby. She is starting to take longer naps during the day, has an earlier bedtime (7!) and sometimes sleeps all night. She loves to smile at us and coo and talk. She loves looking at her sisters! She is now 10 weeks old and seems a regular part of our family. We feel very blessed for such a sweet girl.