A Visit from Nana & Papa

Tim's mom and dad (Nana & Papa) came down this past week to meet their new grandson as well as hang out with Hannah and us. It was so great to have them here and we packed their visit with tons of fun stuff both big and small. Here is a quick look at our fun-filled time together.

I took advantage of having Delaine here to help me decorate Cameron's room. I always love how she puts things together!

While we were working on the room, Ken & Tim were hard at work outside on Hannah's new swing set! We decided since we'll have a newborn at home this summer, our trips out and about may not happen as much and we thought this would be a great way for Hannah to still play. It was finished just as she got up from nap and she couldn't wait to get out to play. She has been out every day since then. She loves it! Starting in the winter, Hannah was able to go to Awana on Wednesday nights in the 2 year old program, Puggles. I didn't know that she was going to be a part of the closing ceremonies, but we were very excited to find out she was! The whole fam, including my mom and dad, headed up to church to watch Hannah and it was so much fun! She did a great job on stage singing her song. Such a great opportunity for her to learn about Jesus as well as play with her church friends. We were so proud of her! While Ken & Delaine were here, the weather finally broke and we took total advantage of it! On Friday, we took a trip to Grant's Farm. Hannah loved it once again and Cameron did a great job of hanging out. Our highlights were feeding the goats, riding on the carousel, watching the animal shows and seeing the "BIG" horses (clysdales). It was a really great day!

Hannah sat long enough for Nana to double french braid her hair before going to Grant's Farm.
A family shot on the tram at Grant's Farm.

On Saturday, we all loaded up and headed to STL for a Cardinals v. Brewer's game. Even though Papa wore his Brewer's shirt, and the Brewer's beat our Cardinals, it was a great day at the ballpark. The weather was beautiful and both kids did a fantastic job! We can't wait to go back and celebrate a Cardinal victory later this year!We capped off our time together with a fabulous Mother's Day lunch at our house. My mom and dad joined us and it was a great time to celebrate all the mom's in our lives. Here is our little family on Mother's Day.

Cameron's First Month

Cameron turned one month old today! It's hard to give a lot of details in this update because he wasn't with us full time for a lot of the month. He is changing every day though -- I forgot how fast that goes! We did visit the doctor and we definitely have a growing boy on our hands! He weighed in at 10 lbs. (that's over a 3 lb. gain!) and is 21 3/4" long (up an inch and 3/4). Both of these fall around the 50th percentile so we have a very healthy little guy! This seems really big to us because Hannah was so tiny for her age and still is only around the 40th percentile. He seems to be adjusting to our routine of eat/wake/sleep cycles. His evenings can be a little rough at times -- he has developed a little bit of a "witching hour" sometimes. However, once he gets a bottle between 10:00 and 10:30, he sleeps until 3:30 or 4:00. Then up at 7 for the start of the day. Not too bad! We are so in love with our little guy! Here is Cameron around 1 month old with his own bear for pictures.

Entrustment Ceremony

We had another special part of our adoption today, the placement ceremony. Since Tim's parents were here to meet Cameron, we thought it was the perfect time to celebrate our adoption. Our social work arrived bright and early as well as my mom and dad for all of us to be together for this celebration. The ceremony was a time to honor the adoption triad of birthmom, adoptive family and baby. With each part of the triad, our social worker talked a little about the importance of the people involved as well as read scripture and poetry. At the end, we prayed for Cameron, his birthmom and our family as we go forward with this adoption. Afterward, we celebrated with cinnamin rolls for breakfast. It was a great morning to spend as a family. We are beyond blessed to have gone through this process and to see how God has shaped and formed our family.

Here we are with our social worker, Rachel, celebrating Cam's adoption into our family.