3 months old

Psalm 37:4
"Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart."











Grace Lily is now 3 months old. She is 9 lbs and 21" long. She started rolling over about a week ago. you know the kind of gravity roll...like, oh if i turn my head this way, my whole body goes over, cool! She loves to do it over and over. Lately, her favorite past time is sucking on her hands while observing the craziness that is Gavin! She adores the men in her life. She could watch Gavin all day and when Daddy walks in the room forget about it! She is such a joy to be around, I mean, a really good baby and a good sleeper too! She communicates by looking at us and whining with different voice inflections...it's hillarious. We love our precious girl to pieces! I just hope we get past this spit up phase. Yuk.
Gracie saw an Audiologist last week and her hearing test revealed that she does have fluid in her ears. The good news is that she has perfect hearing besides that. We are so relieved and so grateful. We had been praying ever since she failed her hearing test right before we left the NICU. It looks like she will definitely need tubes, and will probably get them in a couple months. We are just praying that the fluid doesn't do any damage in the mean time.
Isn't this time of year great? We look forward to the pool, bike rides, friends, BBQ's and all that is Summer. We will continue posting pics of our adventures!
Happy Summer!!!

Shelly Young Photography

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Father's Day

Well, we just so happen to have 5 wonderful Father's to celebrate on Father's Day. It called for a crazy day, but they are all worth it!
Father #1- God our Father. Thank you Lord for loving us unconditionally and teaching us what a father is.
Father #2- My wonderful husband, Josh. He is seriously one of the most amazing dad's. He is patient, a great teacher, and is SO much fun!! He is an amazing story teller and you would never know it, but the BIGGEST ham when it comes to entertaining his kids.



Father #3-My Pops, John. He loves me so much, and loves Josh and my kids. He also worked really hard so that I could attend a Christian school all of my life and I will be eternally grateful for his love and support. Gavin and Gracie love when Grandpa John stops by to play. We love you so much Dad!




Father #4-Guy, My Dad and technically my Father-in-law. He is such a kind and wonderful man. He loves to give and create time to be with his kids and family. I have known him now for 12 years and love him so much. In fact, so much that when I went to give him a hug on Father's day I slipped my hand in his shirt(on accident...and almost died of embarrassment! hehe :). Oh and he is a wonderful G-Pops to our kids.



Father #5-Jeff, my amazing step-father. He is so thoughtful and kind, always working hard to give of himself to his family. He makes a mean Tri-tip and loves stopping by the house with Max, while he is out on a run. We love him so much and of course, Gavin and Gracie love Poppy! :)

Our fun week!

Psalm 9:1-2
I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will tell of all Your marvelous works.
I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.




Exhausted, from being up all night with the kids I headed to Starbucks this morning one tired momma and came home an energetic woman, optimistic about my day! I didn't used to NEED coffee, but now it's amazing how coffee affects my personality. So... I'm ready to go!
Gracie is a whopping 8 lbs 5 ozs and looking plump! It's awesome! She starts occupational therapy (OT) on Thursday and we are so excited. The therapist comes to our house and works with Gracie for 1 hour a week. Yay! If the OT thinks its necessary she will also ask for Gracie to get PT as well. We'll see!
Gavin is sick today...bummer. At least we get to be home in our sweats all day!

Gracie practicing her Hip-Hop routine for So You Think You Can Dance 2027!



Feeding the ducks at the park.







Last night we went to the cutest thing ever...Pajama story time at the Orange library. A room full of kids in their PJs singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" is just too adorable. We met our friend Jen from the hospital there with her 2 (adorable) boys and husband. We had such a great time and loved making new friends. Their oldest is just about a month younger than Gavin and about the same height. They had so much fun together...all though all they wanted to do was play cars instead of listen to the stories.










Grandpa John stopped by earlier in the week. We love when he comes over to play. He got to cuddle Gracie and teach Gavin how to use his sling shot. This was a major bonus...getting him to stop shooting himself in the face with the ball. hehe
So our weekend was a little crazy. Probably the fullest days we've had since being home with Gracie. We had so much fun, but payed a little on Monday morning. :)
We went to cousin Mekaja's second birthday party. Everything was going smoothly, I was tube feeding Gracie and Josh was watching Gavin in the backyard. Josh turns away for one second ( you know how it is) and Splash Gavin falls in the pool, not knowing how to swim quite yet. All I hear is, "He's in the pool." and I know it's Gavin. I run, Gracie in hand and oh yes a syringe full of milk, hooked up to my child's tummy, to make sure Gav is ok. I find Josh in the pool, fully dressed, fishing him out (Blackberry in pocket). This happened about 10 minutes into being there. Poor Josh had to walk around in wet jeans for a good hour. :) We had fun seeing our fam and hated having to leave early.





So Sunday, we got to go to our friend Cody's first birthday. What a blast. Chrissy and Kevin's clubhouse park was perfect. Gavin and Josh ran and played the entire time while Gracie and I hung out in the shade chatting with friends...it was perfect (for me). hehe Thanks Rausch's for a fun party! We left the Rausch's and met Brad and Lauren at a pizza place to watch the Laker game. Trying to keep Gavin entertained was a chore. So once the game went in to overtime, Lauren and I took the kids to get yogurt while the guys stayed to watch the game. It was so good to hang out with friends and family and enjoy the gorgeous weekend.

I started going a little crazy the other day (maybe it had something to do with exhaustion), crying for no reason, worrying about anything and everything and I realized I hadn't been in God's word the past couple of days. Even Josh can tell the days I haven't spent time reading my bible. I am one of those people that just has to have my time with God to feel sane, to be reminded that He is in control, that He loves me, and loves my kids. The second my eyes are off of Him, I experience fear. It must be like Peter when he walked on the water with his eyes focused on Jesus(Matt. 14:25-33). But, the second his eyes focused on the wind and the waves, he started to sink. I think everything in this world is so loud, calling out for my attention, distracting my eyes and taking them off of Jesus. Instantly fear grips me and I start to fall. I'm so grateful that Jesus reaches out to me to grasp my hand and pull me out of the waves, causing me to fix my eyes on Him once again, restoring my joy and security.

Is it June already?

We have our new door up! Yay!! Now...what to do...Stain or paint? Not sure.
Josh also rebuilt the bar to be a little sturdier so that when we have rowdy teenagers climbing on it, we don't have to worry! He really did an amazing job. Austin Hardwood is his new favorite store...he is like a kid in a candy shop! I love it.
I love the pics of Gavin holding Gracie after he just woke up from his nap. Don't you just love those sleepy blue eyes? Gracie is finally holding her head up. She is getting stronger everyday! Yay Grace!

A letter to my Grace

Dear Grace,
I just had one of those moments with you that took my breath away. One of those moments where your mom learned love. A love that my heart can't contain so that tears just poured down my cheeks. You just spent about 30 minutes napping on my chest, wiggling and cuddling. You were so deeply asleep that when you started to stir it took a while to get those eyes peeled open. And when you did, a smile, you looked at me and smiled instantly. I love your beautiful smile. We cuddled and cooed and I started to cry. You see, I wasn't sure we were going to have these moments...these moments of not only recognition but adoring. I am so beyond grateful that my heart can't contain it. You are a gift. A perfect and precious gift to me and I am eternally grateful for moments like these. You are now on your mat, playing and kicking, smiling up a storm. I took about 30 pics of you having a ball and I had to write you a letter, because I felt like I would burst if I didn't get to tell you. To tell you how much I love you. I know you understand my love now, I just don't want to forget perfect moments like these with my amazing Grace.
I Love you sweetheart, Mommy