thankful

Thanksgiving was special this year.  Well, it's special every year because it's my favorite holiday...so I should say it was a little extra special.  Not only was it our first Thanksgiving as a family of 3, but it was also the first time in many, many years that every member of this Thanksgiving family was together.  The time went waaay to fast, but it was great to be able to spend a few relaxing days with these people who I am so thankful for!

First time in a tractor!

Sporting the shirt from Auntie Kelli
"owl love you forever"

Lilia and I also made a trip up to Michigan to see some family and meet cousin Sarah's son Luke the weekend before Thanksgiving.  She loved playing with Grandma Slenk!

Lilia is 3 months old today, and she decided to celebrate by showing us a new trick...she rolled from her back to stomach yesterday!  It took her a while to get to this point, so we'll have to keep practicing to get better at it. 

Whipping that leg over..........yeah, we'll count it!

growin

6 weeks
(outfit from the vball girls :) )

7 weeks

8 weeks
(October 23 and super warm outside)

9 weeks
(already in my 3-6 mo clothes!)

10 weeks
(election day)

give thanks

It's hard not to be reminded of all that we can be thankful for at this time of year.  With many people posting 30 days of thanks on facebook, I usually can agree with most things I read.  However, I have seen some people being intentional about posting blessings in disguise, and I felt challenged to do the same - to take the nuisances and stresses in my life and instead see the blessing that is waiting for me if I only look a little deeper.  So here goes my first week...

#1: I am thankful for God's creativity that can be seen in each one of us.  Sometimes our differences can be frustrating and make it difficult to develop relationships, but we are all image bearers of Him and his diversity is beautiful.

#2: I am thankful for poopy diapers because it means my daughter is healthy and eating really well!

#3: I am thankful for the never-ending task of raking leaves because it allows me to do some physical labor outside and enjoy my favorite season of the year.

#4: I am thankful for political ads (not the content necessarily) but because they mean we live in a country that gives me the right to vote and freely live out my faith.  I personally think these kids say it much better to a little "Call Me Maybe" tune! :)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVkfNUxRh7g

#5: I am thankful for long (sometimes reeeally long) days at home because it means that God had provided just enough for me to be able to stay at home with our daughter this school year.  

#6: I am thankful for rainy, dreary days because our God knows just what we need after a hot, dry summer.

#7: I am thankful for a daughter that fights sleep because sometimes that's what it takes to make us slow down, drop everything, and just be with her to comfort and sing her to sleep.

And here are some pictures of our smiling, cooing, beautiful blessing that we see growing before our eyes every day...

peacefully sleeping

she LOVES the butterfly - never takes her eyes off it!

starting to learn how to use her hands

shows how much she has grown - she wore the on the left
right after coming home.  now, she fits into the one on the right!

not so little peanut

Well, this mother has survived her first round of 2 month shots...oh wait, I mean...Lilia was a champ during her 2 month shots. :)  Only minimal screaming and I held it together quite well.  Now we just have a sleepy girl that loves to be snuggled, and I won't argue with that!  

In the doctor's words, Lilia is not wasting any time growing!  She tipped the charts at 12 lbs. 13 oz. (92nd percentile), 24 1/4 inches (95th percentile), and I'm not sure on her exact head measurement, but it's in the 98th percentile!  I can't say I was all that surprised though - I was pretty sure she had really grown in the past week because the 0-3 month clothes were suddenly way too snug...and I was right.  Getting her measured also reminded me of this summer when I was talking to one of the OB nurses during one of our many non-stress tests.  She had just been up to Holland, MI and couldn't believe some of the Dutch last names she saw.  Well, that prompted us to talk about my Dutch heritage...crazy last names...and eventually how tall Dutch people are.  I made the joke that growing up, it seemed like every baby I knew was in the 90-something percentile for length and I always wondered...who are the people that are in those lower percentiles?!?  I guess Lilia is just staying true to her Dutch-ness and taking a top spot in the length charts!

In other baby news, Lilia has slept through the night for 2 nights in a row.  Matt joked that I got more consecutive hours of sleep than he did on Sunday night....first time in 2 months that has happened!  She has also started to find her voice - cooing, gurgling, and smiling at us more and more.  We can't wait to bring her home for the holidays and have her meet more of her extended family and friends!

Wide awake in the morning

All ready for church!

watching the World Series with dad before bed

She doesn't fit in this anymore, but
Halloween is right around the corner,
so I thought I'd throw it in!

baptism & bug

We were so blessed to have almost our whole family out for Lilia's baptism last Sunday. She was a champ and slept through almost the whole service, but was wide awake when she got baptized...like she knew it was her time to shine. :)

Lilia wore my dress with Matt's blanket,
 made by his great-grandma.

Four generations
and Grandma with her name-sake

Van Schepens (missed you Ty and Heather!)
Baptism tuckered Hannah out!

Van Wyk/Slenks

Lilia and her cousins

Oh yeah...and the bug.  Well, let's just say we are very thankful that flu bug that decided to attack my side of the family the following Monday and Tuesday held off at least that long!  I think Matt was the first one to go down and Ben was the last...with Bailey, Lilia, and Grandma Slenk being the only ones spared anything too nasty.  Not quite sure where that little bug originated from...I just know it wasn't the most ideal way to cap off a great weekend!

road trip

We made our first big road trip as a family, and overall, I would say it was a success.  Matt's high school friend, Kirk, was getting married in northwest Iowa, so Matt took Friday off school so we could spread out our travels over a few more days.  Lilia was able to meet her uncle Tyler and (almost!) aunt Heather, spend some time on the farm, and her parents were able to ride in the combine a bit while grandma babysat!  A good deal all around :).  

Checking out uncle Tyler...and not quite sure what she thinks yet :)

 

Family picture at the wedding

All the Edgerton boys.

Congratulations Kirk and Megan!  We are so glad that we could celebrate with you!

And one more because she's just so cute - she has really started to nap better when she is on her stomach...butt high in the air. :)

We also got the call back from her cardiologist and everything looked good with the 24 hr monitor she had to wear.  There were only 7 PAC's in over 200,000 recorded beats, which he said could be considered normal.  So now, we just have to go back when she is 1 yr old.  We are so thankful that Lilia's heart is strong and healthy.  That stay in the hospital at 25 weeks seems so far away with so many good reports throughout the rest of the pregnancy, but I'm all for double and triple checking just to be sure!

watch me grow

lilia had a doctor's appointment to double check that her heart had no more PAC's, so we were able to get an update on her height and weight.  at 5 weeks, she weighed in at 10 lbs 12 oz and 23 inches long.  she had to wear a monitor for 24 hours, and we should hear the results next week.  if everything is ok, we don't have to go back to the cardiologist until lilia is 1.

we've been taking pictures with moose to show how much lilia is growing.  before we know it, she will be too big to lay this way in her crib for pictures!

 1 week

 2 weeks

 3 weeks

4 weeks

5 weeks

lil' lil

oh how much can change in a year!  i was just talking to one of my friends pictured in my last post and we couldn't believe how much our 6 friends' lives have changed since that little reunion - 4 babies and 2 moves later, it's hard to believe how fast time has gone.

i was getting a little bored writing about our lives - everything just seemed cyclical...school, coaching, family travels, summer, and start it all over again.  well, since we now have a beautiful little peanut added to our family, i figured i have something a little more interesting to write about and our families would appreciate seeing pictures every once in a while.  

3 weeks ago today we welcomed Lilia Renee to our family, and our lives have been blessed beyond measure.  we have loved every (sleepless) minute of getting to know her every sound, facial expression, and mood, and we continue to love her more every day.  i finally got around to taking some newborn pictures, even though she has already grown so much in these 3 weeks!