He's here!

Last week we welcomed our new little guy to the family! Gunther Lee. His name means "Warrior" and "Fierce as a Lion." He weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs, 3 oz. and 22" long only two days after his due date. I was glad we decided to induce so soon after my due date! With Caleb we waited 10 days and he was 9 lbs. Hubby says I "know how to grow them." :)

Here are a few pictures of our new little blessing!

 40 week picture

He's here! 

 Peaceful moment with Daddy

 Big boy!

 C meets Gunther for the first time. Not quite sure what to think at first but by the time he left he had called him by name and announced to a nurse who came in, "Baby Brudder." :)

 Gma and Gpa McDowell

 Ertz Family

Uncle Joe

 Our family of four!

 Little bright eyes with daddy!

 Caleb "sharing." Too sweet. Caleb has only continued to warm up to baby Gunther. He loves to give him toys, help burp him, hold him, give him kisses and mimics his little coos and cries.

When we go places he asks, "Baby tum too?"

He'll often ask, "Baby a little sad?" when Gunther cries.

First Bath.

Our two sweet boys!

We feel very blessed! Gunther is a great baby. He took right to nursing and is an awesome sleeper. Most nights I only have to get up once! He is starting to get so much more alert and has started smiling. I have yet to catch a smile on camera.

Look at those cheeks! They get kissed a lot! :)

C is 2!

We just celebrated C's birthday a couple weeks ago, even though it was on the 3rd. Life was pretty crazy with moving to our new place! We love it and are getting settled in quite well! My due date is just  6 days away! 

We had a simple get together at our home with both families. C was thrilled to see all his favorite people, the presents were just icing on the cake! 

 We put up streamers and balloons the day before. While hubby was hanging the streamers C kept telling him, "Good Job Dada!" "Nice!"

We kept telling him the decorations were for his birthday and we told him Happy Birthday several times. Pretty soon he started walking around saying, "appy birt-day." :) It was fun to see him so excited!

 The spread

 I opted for home-made sugar cookies instead of cake this year.

 C was a fan!

 My handsome hubby serving up cookies and ice cream.

 Melissa and Doug cookie play-set. He LOVES it! We have several other of their toys and I highly recommend anything by that company.

 A highlight for sure! Cousin Sam gave C his old train table and train sets!

Lots of playing!

4 Years.

Yesterday the hubby and I celebrated our fourth anniversary.

We had a great day! Lazy morning at home with C.  and a sweet date night out for dinner just enjoying each other's company.

Life happened too. 

Our car overheated and we had to field calls about selling our house. C had to be fed and diapered. Bills had to be paid. I did laundry. We worked our business.

It was perfect. 

And I really mean that. Earlier in our marriage I would have been disappointed that things didn't go 'perfectly' but yesterday that stuff didn't even phase me! It was a perfect celebration of the everyday-ness of marriage!)

It's hard to believe time has gone by so quickly! We've experienced so much already....

In 7 weeks we will be welcoming our second child to our family. We just sold our house by owner and will be moving in a couple weeks (This is part of the reason I have been so delinquent on here. ) We started our own business 18 months ago. So many other things...

With each day that goes by I appreciate my husband more. His conviction, sensitivity, passion, determination, perseverance, amazing sense of humor, faith in God, generosity, and humility. 

I was pretty young when we got married. I look back now and think, "I had no idea what to really look for in a spouse." Sure I knew a few things, but really, you can't know how your spouse will respond to life until you live it together!  

Each new trial or joy God brings into our lives shows me again how blessed I am to be married to the man I am. 

I am learning to trust him (and God) more. To let go of control. To really enjoy the man I am married to instead of trying to change him. 

My heart is full of gratefulness. There are plenty of uncertainties in our future together, but I know that with Matt by my side and God as our rock we can face anything together.

Baby Boy Bump Pictures!

Bump pictures from different weeks!

I've definitely moved into the 'whale' stage of my pregnancy. Haha! Just kidding!

For those who have been pregnant you know what I'm talking about. Suddenly, even though your belly is very much a part of you, you start bumping into things because you misjudged your size.  :) The front of your shirt has unexplainable stains because you rubbed up against something or spilled without knowing.

Someone did ask if I was full term the other day. 

"Nope. Only 26 weeks." 

 14 weeks

 20 weeks

 23 weeks (and below)

Here's the most recent picture!

 25 weeks

My mom got this scarf for me in Paris a couple weeks ago and I LOVE it! 

Just for kicks....

Here is a picture of me full term with C-37 weeks next to the 25 week picture this time around.

Um. yeah. I think I might be showing more this time around. 

I'll have to do a pregnancy update soon! Things are going well!
The best part is that the baby is very active! I just love feeling him kick and somersault around! It's like a party in my belly. :)

C- 21 months

I've realized the perfectionist in me puts off these monthly updates because I fear leaving something out. I decided last night that I just want to write from my heart and what I'm enjoying about my little man and not worry about 'perfection'. 

It's so sweet to see C begin to return affection! He's started to initiate kisses and will tell us he loves us. Hubby has worked with him a lot to say "I love you" so sometimes when Hubby is at work I'll say, "C can you say, I love you?" he will and then he'll say, "Dada?" :)

I have discovered I love being the mom of a little boy. 

(I haven't officially announced it on here, but we are having another boy too!)

Here's the picture we used to announce it:

I love skinned knees, tractors on the coffee table, balls, wrestling with Daddy, and mini button up dress shirts.

 I love cargo shorts, dumptruck and dozer books, curiosity, adventure, the little 'duck tail' his hair makes on the back of his neck.

I love seeing C. copy Daddy shave, put on deodorant, and mow the yard. 

 With daddy after a 5K.

 C has used his Tigger as a teether so we bought a new one because the old one's nose got a hole in it from so much biting. When we opened the package it came in C says, "A nor nor!" (Another one!) :)

So if he sees the two of them he says, "Tidder and a nor nor."

We went to the splash pad today for the first time. It was really windy and C didn't like the initial spray of water we got hit with when we walked. I asked him if he wanted to go in the water. He said, "No!" and grabbed my hand tightly. I showed him how to do it and pretty soon he stepped in a stream. By the end of the time we were there he was running all over the entire pad giggling and flashing me big smiles. 

That's something I really love about mothering- making new experiences safe and watching C learn to love them. I love exposing him to new food and new skills.  

Spaghetti!

 When we got this book from the library C would only want to look at this page and kept saying, "Dada!, Dada!"

C loves to help. He is learning how to pick up toys and when we're done we do high fives and "Knuckles" 

Running errands has become something I really look forward to doing together. We get a cookie if we go to Target or Hy-vee and ride in fun carts. We talk and he smiles and waves to everyone. 

He's learning what the street is and not to go in it. Anything with wheels he can ride or push is huge right now.

People tell me a lot, "He seems so happy." And I say, "He is happy!" He has such a joyful sweet spirit. He loves life and everything is an adventure.

At random times he'll just walk into a room or look at me (Or Hubby) and say in the sweetest happy voice, "Hi Mama." (or Dada.) It's like he feels so happy to be with us and wants to let us know.

I feel very blessed to be C's mommy. There are moments that I feel overwhelmed when I think about having another baby, but then I think about how much joy C has added to our lives and I get excited to meet our newest addition! I'm sure life will be crazy and there will be times I'll be exhausted, but it's truly worth it!