happy birthday mama!

Today we celebrate my mama. She is the mom and woman I want to be. Happy birthday mama. love you so much!

packin on the pounds

sweet sayla had her two week check up today. The doctor said and I quote "I am just ecstatic about her weight gain!" Sayla is a champion nurser and has gained 1.2 pounds since her last visit 8 days ago! At this rate she won't be in the 25 percentile for weight for too long. The doc also gave us the green light to let her sleep as long as she pleases at night...whoo hooo!

happy birthday adam!

One of the things I am SO thankful for is how much we love and get along with our family. My brother-in-law, Adam is no exception. He is one of Drew's best friends, he's fun to be around, he is such a servant (we wouldn't have a kitchen or bathroom without him!) he is kind, he is generous, he is smart, he is a great match for kirsty, and he will make a great dentist! It is also so fun to watch him in his new role as dad to little Burke. Happy Birthday Adam! We love you and are thankful for you!

more Sayla Grace

More to come in the next few weeks I'm sure, but so far things are going great. Kirst calls Sayla "the baby champion" due to the fact that she has already mastered nursing, sleeps great (we have to wake her up at night to feed her...the doctor says in another week we can stop doing that and just let her sleep!) and hardly cries.

We are settling in nicely and were blessed to get to come home from the hospital 24 hours post birth. It is so much more restful being in our own home and much less crazy for little kead.

Speaking of Kead she is doing pretty good with the transistion. A few more temper tantrums than usual, but she LOVES her little sis and is so sweet to want to always hold her and shower her with kisses. She calls she "la-la" , which is pretty cute.

I know many of you have been praying for us and so many have brought us meals, presents for the new one and called to make sure we are doing all right. We are so thankful for all of your love and support!

SHE'S HERE

Sayla Grace Remke- 6 pounds, 9 oz., 19 inches long. Born today at 2:27 pm.
Welcome to our family, precious precious baby girl.

just in case you were wondering...

still no baby girl. She isn't a risk taker, I guess. She knows she loves it in my belly and we can't convince her it is fun on the outside too. :)

Mom leaves tomorrow morning, but is already planning a return trip.

I'm still feeling ok, just a little sad that my mom won't be here.

aaa-ohhhh

kead loves cell phones and anytime she hears one ring (or anything that sounds like it might be a cell phone ringing) she puts her hand to her ear and says "aaa-ohhh"- her version of hello. She also says "bye-bye guys" after I hang up the cell phone from talking to someone. super cute.

the calvary has arrived!

Mom got here wednesday and has already re-organized my pantry, helped me finish the nursery AND the guest room and cleaned the kitchen. Not to mention bringing an awesome menu plan with all sorts of fun dishes to cook. We are happy guiney pigs for her fun new resipes!

Kirst got here wednesday and we are busy getting some kojo business done and she is helping me pre-cut all the stuff for birth announcements. She is also an awesome helper and will be watching Kead while my hands are full the next couple weeks.

I love having these girls (and of course my nephew, Burke!) around to help and its great to get to spend some time with them before the baby gets here.

My mom leaves September 4th (they close on their house on the 5th and she will miss the house being packed to be here!) So lets pray she gets to meet her third granchild. This little girl is on her own schedule and hasn't made any indication she will be coming any time soon. I am still doing great, getting rest and haven't been too uncomfortable...so its fine with me. I just hope she gets to meet her Lita. :)

funny.

I was just reading through an old journal and came upon the entry I wrote while still in the hospital after Keadryn was born. This section cracked me up:

"labor was hard and I am already dreading the next...not for a looong time"

well I guess 15 months is kind of long?

yay!

Keadryn has enough hair for a bow!

Now if I can get her to keep one on her head for more than 30 seconds. (hence the picture doesn't show the bow very well, it was the only one I could get before she tore it out!) I just LOVE this smile of Keadryn's. She is such a feisty little girl.

Three things I love about dad:

1) The way he LOVES his family. Seriously he is so great at showing us in so many ways that he cares for us. He has always been a great provider, has always put family first...and he is a cuddly guy! He gives the best hugs and none of us have ever doubted how much he loves us!



2) His sense of humor. I love the way dad's eyes twinkle when he is trying to tell a joke. I love how he has always been game for all of the shenanigans we have put him through...and I love that he doesn't take life to seriously to laugh and have fun!


3) His love for all things outdoors! Dad calls himself a good-ole Colorado boy. He loves being outside (a lot of fishing and golfing!) and he loves helping other people enjoy the outdoors. He gave some friends a fly fishing lesson a couple years ago that they STILL talk about and last summer he pulled out all the stops so that Dan (Drew's brother) could catch a fish when he visited us in Idaho. His love is contagious and I am so glad that he has passed it on.



Happy Birthday Dad! I love you and am so thankful for you! Can't wait to have you so close by (yes- eight hours is close comparatively)

around here lately

Not too much has been going on around here lately. We are kind of in a holding pattern until the little one gets here, not wanting to take on new projects... but there is still some time.

I have finally been working on a nursery for the girls. Poor Keadryn has been sleeping in a room with just a crib in it for a whole year. The vent on the ceiling was the most interesting thing for her to look at from her crib. Now she has sensory overload in there and I always hear her in the morning oohing and ahhing at the decorations on the walls. :) (she calls the rings balls)

This is a fun use of all the fabric Kirsty got me. Eventually they will be filled with pictures and other memorabilia...the nursery isn't even close to finished, but at least its a start. more pictures to come!

five

Drew and I celebrated our five year anniversary today! Since we already had an anniversary trip to Albuquerque and an anniverary stay in Valley Forge, we had a low key day; friday breakfast (a family tradition) and a date night which was complete with babysitting (thanks britt and chase!), yummy ribs and a movie at the real movie theater!

Here are some highlights from the past 5 years:

*me finishing school

* lots and lots of amazing traveling... 17 countries together to be exact!

* working at southcrest doing international student outreach

* moving to the middle east

*learning arabic together

* having keadryn

* moving back to the US

* the surprise of being pregnant again :)

* planting redeemer in lubbock


I wish I would have written a five year plan five years ago, just to look back on it now and laugh at how different things have gone then I thought they would. Not bad different, really really good different. I think every "change in plans" has been God leading us in a direction that is more glorifying to Him and better for us, so I can't complain. I am so excited to see what the next five, ten, twenty years hold for us!

happy anniversary drew...love you and stuff

waiting patiently

I cannot believe how soon the little miss will be here! I am currently 37 weeks and SO grateful for how easy this pregnancy continues to be. We had a minor scare when I started having (very mild) contractions on the way home from the wedding reception in Philly, but laying down and resting after two days of being on my feet cured me of that and nothing has happened since.

I am looking forward to meeting this little girl and can't believe how much less scary this is the second time around. I know every labor is different, as is every child...but there is some confidence in knowing that my body really can do this! :)

I am also really enjoying these last couple weeks with Kead as an only child and trying to give her plenty of extra love because her world is about to be turned upside down as well. Last night we were sitting on the couch watching the Olympics and she came over and put her head on my belly and started rubbing it. SO cute. She is going to be such a great big sis!

So we are patiently waiting for our new addition...everyone keeps asking "are you just SO done being pregnant?!"...but my answer is still no. Even though I have reached the uncomfortable point in pregnancy, I am still enjoying being a mother of one, sleeping through *most of* the night, and getting some final projects done around the house... and I know that she will come when the time is perfect for her.

the jersey shore

One final set of pics from our vacation last week. We took Kead to see the ocean for the first time. She had a love/hate relationship with the water, but as long as someone was holding her hand (or just holding her) she liked it pretty well. She also loved the sand and birds. We wish we would have had more time at the coast, but are so glad we went, even for a little bit.