Our beach vacation to the Outer Banks

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Tenley's photo brag book

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Photos of the Grandkids

While in Pittsburgh over Easter, my sister Julie and I decided to have our kids photos taken together. We did it the year before and the pictures turned out so cute!

Easter and my week in Pittsburgh

We went home for Easter on April 22nd and I stayed with Jackson and Tenley until May 2nd. We stayed at my in-laws for the weekend and then for the week at my parents. On Saturday 4/23, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law Laura went to get fitted for our bridesmaids dresses for our sister Julie's October 2011 wedding. I wasn't too thrilled about the idea just because I don't have my pre-pregnancy body back yet. But the good news is I have 6 months before the wedding to get in shape. Then that afternoon we went to the annual Easter Egg hunt at the Helfer's farm. That's always a fun time. On Easter Sunday we went to lunch at Grandma Schnur's and enjoyed a delicious meal! It was the first time Tenley was meeting the Schnur side of the family. Everyone loved her! After that, we headed over to my parents for another meal. I was stuffed! We always enjoy sitting around the table telling stories. During dinner, my Mom, Dad and Julie were all sitting on a bench, all of a sudden, Mom and Julie got up off the bench leaving Dad on the end and it flipped up and he fell off!! It looked like it was straight out of a movie!

Tenley's Great Grandpa Brainard

Aunt Karen and Ashley Kight 

They looked like 2 old men sitting in their chairs on the porch

Timmy is such a good Uncle!

We were only missing my sister Michelle who was working :(

During the week, I really enjoyed being able to see some friends and family. On Monday 4/25 we met up with my friend Jenn Peterson and Weston, the little boy she nanny's for. We went to a place called Jumpin' Castle and it was perfect for the little boys. My mom came along with Timmy, and Julie brought her kids too. Jackson really enjoyed running around and climbing.

We also visited with my cousin Jessie and her 3 kids -Justin, Will and Riley. It's amazing how fast they are growing up! We also visited my Roos Grandparents. 

Christy came home for the weekend because she had a Physician Assistant conference to attend for her work by the Pittsburgh Airport. When she was done she came to Mom & Dad's house. We had a fun time hanging out together as we don't get much time to do this anymore. We went to the mall with Tenley and she enjoyed holding her and taking credit for being her mom! Jackson got to take a tractor ride with Pap but didn't enjoy it too much. On Sunday 5/1 we went to the North Catholic Musical - Godspell. Katie and Rachel starred in the show and did a fantastic job. I'm glad we were able to be there to see them perform. 

My Mom was always willing to do anything to help with the kids no matter what time of day it was. It was so nice to have her help. She loved snuggling her grandkids!

Tenley's newborn photo shoot and video

Once again our wonderfully talented photographer Angela Smith has wowed us with her talent in photographing baby Tenley. The pictures are just beautiful and really show the precious-ness and innocence of a newborn. We just love them and will treasure them for years to come!
Click her picture below to link to the gallery. Password is tenley3.12.11


Click the link below to watch her video!
http://animoto.com/play/pcVFVbwiJxO6nm2fRR9daQ

It's almost been a month for our family of 4!

Can't believe we've had baby Tenley for almost a month! She is such a cutie pie! She prefers to sleep most of the day and then doesn't want Mommy to lay her down in her bed at night. Even if she is sleeping and I lay her down, she's awake before I can tiptoe back to bed. Needless to say, I've been running on very little sleep! Good thing I have the best Nutrilite vitamins and XS energy drinks to keep me going thru the day! Jackson still doesn't pay much attention to Tenley and will definitely not hold her if we try to place her on his lap. But he has tried to hold her hair...for those of you who've seen Jackson lately, he has an obsession with holding hair and putting it in his binky. I thought getting my hair cut short would be a good solution but now he just pulls harder to get it close to him. When Tenley cries, Jackson looks at her like "will you stop it already?"
It's really not too hard handling the 2 kids during the day, but bedtime is a challenge for us. It takes awhile to get all 4 of us ready for bed and in bed. Speaking of which...last night we were in bed (Carl, Jackson and I) at 10pm and Tenley was in her bed. But Jackson couldn't get settled and was growling and making noises. We kept reminding him to be quiet because his sister was sleeping and after 15 minutes of this, Carl put Jackson in his bed. Within seconds he was crying uncontrollably and worked himself up so much that he was coughing. Carl ran in because we both knew what was about to happen. As soon as Carl picked him up from his crib, he threw up all over Carl (with no shirt on!) and all over the floor. He's done this before when we put him in his bed and he's not asleep. So then I had to get out of bed, give Jackson a bath, Carl had to get a shower and then clean the rug. We were both gagging. When I first saw Carl holding Jack with throw up everywhere, I sorta giggled to myself even though we both were not laughing at the time. So after all that and the 3 of us were back in bed, it was 11pm and Tenley woke up! That's one memorable night!

Very behind! Catching up on the past 2 months! Welcome Tenley Renee!!!

So my plan for this blog was to do at least a weekly entry but that hasn't happened. I will try to do this going forward because so much is going on and I have alot to be thankful for (and to share)! We are now a family of 4 and are very happy. Tenley Renee was born on February 25, 2011 at 12:31pm. She weighed 6lbs 4oz and was 19in long. She had a full head of dark hair and everyone was surprised that it wasn't red! She is our lil sweetie pie! Now 2 weeks old, she is 6lbs 11oz. She's sleeping about 3 hours at a time during the night and keeping mommy out of her bed...sigh! But I do love being a mom! As my mother in law put it - Motherhood is the hardest job you'll ever love.
Jackson is still our darling little boy. He's 17 months now. Wow does time fly. I think I write that in each blog post! I'm savoring every moment. He doesn't pay much attention to his sister and has showed some jealousy at the thought of having to share his mommy.
Carl took off 1 week after Tenley was born and we really enjoyed those first moments with our new family of 4 very much. The following week my Mom, sisters Julie (and her 2 kids, Jake & Emily), Michelle, and Rachel and brother Timmy, came to help for the week. It was very nice to have the help and we did really enjoy the company. 
Today was the first day I'm officially on my own with both kids. When Jackson and I woke up, I was able to get him breakfast, changed him, read him a story and watched a tv show with him before Tenley woke up. I'm trying to spend quality time with him when she's sleeping so he knows I love him just as much! Then once she woke up I bathed her and fed her, then it was time for lunch. While taking care of her, Jackson was right there wanting me to hold him the entire time and whining. I know it's going to take him some time to get used to the fact that he now has to share me. Now both kids have been sleeping for 2 hours and are still asleep. This time has been nice to shower, throw in a load of laundry, answer emails and write this blog! Dinner was also delivered in that time. We have such dear friends who organized meals to be delivered to us every other day for nearly 3 weeks. I have really gotten used to not cooking because of it. But it really has been such a blessing. We also had Tenley's newborn photos taken over this past weekend and I will be posting them soon. They are just so precious!
Well I should wrap this up because Tenley is squeaking and I don't want her to wake up Jackson!

Baby on the Way

Check out this wonderfully made video from our photographer Angela Smith of our maternity photos. She did an amazing job! Check out her blog at http://photographyavs.blogspot.com/

Baby on the Way

4 weeks and counting!

Well we are down to the final countdown and I am soo excited! I think we all are - except Jackson because he really doesn't know what's about to happen. I can tell he knows something because he wants to cuddle more with Carl than me because of my big belly! The nursery is almost all done thanks to my wonderful husband who painted it! Let me tell you, painting is not easy and I didn't even have to do it! But it looks really pretty. We are waiting for a few more accents for the room and then it'll be all ready.
On Saturday, Jan 29th we had maternity photos taken. They turned out beautifully thanks to our photographer Angela Smith of AV Smith Photography! http://www.avsmithphotography.com/
 Here are a few sneak peaks.

Updates

Ok so over a month has passed again since I last wrote. We had a wonderful December and Christmas season! I can't believe it's come and gone. We spent Dec 22-27 in Pittsburgh visiting both of our families and it was such a nice time. We got to see some family that was in from out of town and we really enjoyed it. Jackson wasn't really interested in opening gifts this year. He pretty much slept thru opening at both parents houses. However he did enjoy grabbing ornaments off the tree and sitting on the tree whenever he could. After the first of the year we had a leadership conference in Lancaster PA for our business and Jackson stayed with Aunt Christy and Uncle Daniel. They really enjoyed having him and Christy even sent me a text the day after we left saying that she missed Jackson. He is a sweetie that's for sure! Then after that Carl had a business trip to South Korea from Jan 14-22. While he was gone I took Jackson up to Pittsburgh to stay at my parent's house. It was so nice to be there with help from family and helped keep my mind off the fact that I really missed my husband. It's amazing how much you can depend on a person and not even realize it til they are gone. I do really appreciate him. He was supposed to arrive on Saturday 1/22 at 9pm and his flight was delayed getting him home at 1:45am the next day! Needless to stay I couldn't stay awake for him but did hear him come in and we talked for a little while before I (Carl laid awake) fell asleep. I'm really glad to have him back. Oh during that time when I came back to Virginia, my Mom came with me so I wouldn't have to drive by myself. It was so great to have her because Jackson wasn't very happy and I ended up moving to the back seat to sit with him for the duration of the trip. Mom is staying until 1/24 when she will attend the March for Life in Washington, DC and ride the bus home with her church. It all worked out perfectly! 


So now I am 34 weeks pregnant and really wanting to have our baby girl! My sister Julie had her baby, Emily Rose while I was home in Pittsburgh on 1/15. She was the cutest lil peanut at 5lbs 10oz! I could have held her for hours! My c-section is scheduled for February 25th at 11:30am, so the end is in sight! I will be having maternity photos take this coming Saturday on 1/29. Check back next week for sneak peeks!