I must be crazy!! (by Stephan)

This past weekend we brought a new kitten home for Samantha!  She has been wanting one really bad so we told her for her birthday (November 1st) that she could have one.  Of course once that was decided, it was all over, Amanda was on Craigslist searching all over the triangle for the "perfect" one.  We found him, according to her, and brought him home.  Sam is so proud of her new kitten and even named him Max.  For those who have known us for a while will know that when we first got married we had a cat named Max who died.  But Sam loves to listen to bed time stories about past pets so that's why we have Max Jr. now.  He is a orange tabby and only about 6 weeks old.  I will try to get a pic of him up soon.  

Life goes on with it's interesting twists and turns.  Hunter is doing way better and is much more delightful to be around now.  I saw that Amanda mentioned that I am 30 now, yes I am an old man according to her!  We went out to dinner with a few friends and that was about it.  Birthdays are not that exciting when you get old!   Graeme tells me that I am actually a 45 year old stuck in a 30 year old's body.  I promptly told him that he is a 16 year old stuck in a 25 year old's body, we called it even!  The funny thing is for those who know me fairly well they will tell you that Graeme is pretty much right on, oh well!  


We did get some fall pics taken of the kids, I will post more online and send invites to those who want to see them.  Peace for now, more to come later.





 

My Apologies!

Man I was so proud of myself for posting to our blog and then I see it has been almost a month! Not only that but Im posting at work so I don't have any new pictures! Which honestly is my favorite part of blogs. As for news Hunter is now a much happier baby. He smiles all the time and loves to talk. Still working on the sleeping but it has greatly improved. Samantha was given some Strawberry Chapstick by her Granny Gail. She call's it her Strawberry Shortcake Chapstick. She carries it everywhere. The funny thing is you would think she has had an allergic reaction to it because she always has her lips puckered but she is just really proud of it. She walks around with her lips puckered and even talks to us with them puckered it's pretty funny.
We celebrated Stephan's 30th birthday! He's an old man! The kids were supposed to spend the night at Mimi's to give us a break but an hour before we were supposed to take them to her house and head to dinner Samantha Barfed all over me. It was quite the fiasco. Mimi ended up coming over to our house and watching the kids while we went to dinner with some friends and then we came home to be with Samantha who of course claimed she was all better and needed some chocolate. We sure are greatful we have family that is willing to help us out like that. Im working on pictures and will have some news ones on soon!

The Time has Come!!!

Well the time has come for me AMANDA to write something in our BLOG.  I feel as though I have been in a dream (or Nightmare) for the last 11 months.  My pregnancy was not fun I was sick all 9 months and huge.  Then Hunter was born with a feisty spirit and we will leave it at that!  We have been really blessed to have family near by and family visit. It has been a big help.  Our ward was also awesome bringing us meals for a week!  I finally feel that things are coming together.  Hunter is sleeping more and crying less and I am starting to get the hang of 2 kids.  I wish I could get the hang of housework along with that!  But that will come with time.  Thank you to everyone for your kind comments on our Blog.  I love to read them. 
As for my perspective on Hunter he is Stephan through and through!  He looks like him and will definilty have the same personality as him.  So Sam is my Mini-me and Hunter is Stephan's!  It's pretty funny.  Hunter greeted me with a big smile this morning and started talking to me.  It sure is rewarding after so many sleepless nights.  Samantha is my little helper and my little love bug.  She always says "Oh Mom!  You need Hug? Sam make you happy mom!  Snuggles?"  It's pretty cute.  So hopefully things will continue to improve and I will be able to update our blog more often!  Love to all!!!!

Getting the hang of two!

So Samantha loves her new brother as you can tell! Having two kids has proven to be quite the challenge but we are already seeing the blessings. Plus, when you have cute kids, it makes it a little easier! Amanda is a trooper with them. She is a good mom and has the patience that I don't have. Good thing too since Hunter had reflux and Sam was already a "mama's girl" before Hunter came a long. Yeah, you can imagine how needy she is being...well multiply that by 2 and you will be pretty close to accurate to what's going on.

Welcome Hunter!

Finally, Hunter has arrived! He was born July 7th, weighing in at 9lbs 3oz. He had a few little complications so he spent 12 hrs in the NICU but he is fine now. Amanda is recovering well from the surgery and is up and about trying to get back to normal life. We are ever so thankful to have Hunter and that there were no major complications. A thanks for everyone's prayers and support.

So now that we are home, it has been an eye-opening experience in adding another kid to the mix. Samantha is very good with him but feels the lack of attention that she is used to getting. It will take some work, and that is the hard part. I like to call them "family growing pains". I think that sums it up for now. More to come later...

About two weeks and counting!

As Amanda grows closer (no pun intended) to her due date, she is even more ready to have this be over with and be able to enjoy our new son! We are about as ready as we will ever be so anytime is good for us. I guess it's just up to Hunter now to decide when he wants to come. Samantha picked out a little toy cow for me for Father's Day. I say that she was thinking selfless when she picked that one out! Sam gets bigger and bigger and continues to astound us at the things she says. We love her and can't remember what life was like before her! Especially when she tells us "No" all the time (saying that sarcastically)!

On the NC front, we are getting more used to being here now. We have enjoyed spring time, the greens and trees are spectacular here. We are grateful for the friendships we have made here and look forward to more time here with them. And a persoal note, finally had the chance to try out Golf for my first time, boy was it fun! I may be a fan, now I just need to work on getting a set of clubs.

I will try my best to keep this updated as we get closer to Hunter's arrival. And of course there will be more pics when he is born!

Nesting...getting ready for Hunter!

So I titled this post "Nesting" because that is what Amanda has been going through this past week. I must say, it has been nice. Anyone that knows Amanda knows that housekeeping is not one of her most favorite things to do so I am enjoying while I can! We are definitely feeling the "baby buzz" around the house. Amanda has been working hard at going through all of Hunter's clothes and organizing everything. There is really baby stuff everywhere. Amanda is hoping that Hunter comes early. We are praying that everything goes smoothly with the birth as Amanda had to have a "C'-section last time. We'll see how it goes...

Samantha continues to grow and astound us with the things that she says and does! As you can see from the video below, she loves music and loves to dance. We have tried to expose her to different types of music while she is young; we both believe that music plays an important part in the Gospel and in loving life.

We are ever so grateful to be parents and are excited to welcome Hunter into our home. More postings to come later!