Almost One Month!

It's hard to believe it's been almost a month since we added a second baby girl to our family (although sometimes it feels much longer!!). We've been busy and things seem to be "settling" a little better. Diane was blessed to have a week of help from each of our moms and meals and support from friends. Here's some pictures of what we've been up to.....



Carolyn is attending two weeks of our "town camp" for pre-k kids. She goes to the park each morning from 9-12 where they play at the playground, do arts and crafts and have visitors (fire dept, service dogs, etc) come in to meet the kids. Carolyn sings each morning on the way to camp about how much fun it is! She takes a lemonade and fruit snack each day and is thrilled to go. I'm so pleased!



Carolyn keeps busy at home too. She loves to play play-doh and makes lots of shapes with cookie cutters! She played with her play-doh for almost 2 hours this day!

Carolyn is ALWAYS looking for a project to do! While Nana was here with us, she suggested that Carolyn go on a nature hunt to find things to make a collage about nature. Carolyn had a wonderful time looking for things and glueing them on with Nana - what a great project!


Carolyn loves to hang up all of her projects and pictures on her wall in her room. One day she said to Zach and I "let's see who has the most beautiful room in this house?" She walked around and then decided that it was her room! She is so proud of all her work! Mom wonders when we will run out of wall space!!


Carolyn continues to just absolutely adore Jocelyn. The first thing she says each morning when she gets up is "where's Joeclyn?" She loves to sit while I feed Jocelyn and play with her hands and feet. I feel so blessed with how well Carolyn has adjusted to her little sister and love to watch them together already. It will be so special to watch them grow up together!


Jocelyn had her first bath and didn't enjoy it very much! She cried and cried - but the next week she was calm and seemed to enjoy her bath a little bit more!


Jocelyn doesn't like to lay flat down, but will sit contently if we prop her up a bit with a pillow! She likes her seat better than being flat on her back and already seems interested in looking at things around her. :)

Jocelyn had her one month check up and is growing well - she was up to 8 lbs,6 oz and grew an inch (although we all now how accurate measuring a squirming infant is!). She goes back to the doctor in September for her 2 month check up.

Jocelyn Christine!

We welcomed little Jocelyn Christine into the world....

Sunday, July 12th
12:59 pm
20.5 inches, 7 lbs 5 oz

We came home from the hospital on Monday and enjoyed having Zach home with us most of this last week. My mom is coming to help tomorrow and then by next Monday I'm hoping to be back on my feet and feeling a lot more normal. We're starting (and I hope continuing!) to sleep a little better and I'm healing from Jocelyn's very quick (we arrived at the hospital just about 1 1/2 before she was born!) delivery!

Carolyn ADORES Jocelyn and is THRILLED to be a big sister. She can't keep her eyes and hands off of Jocelyn and spends most of the day at her side.

Our family of 4!

7 lbs 5 oz, a shock to us since Carolyn was 9lbs, 3 oz!

Sweet, sweet Sisters!

Daddy and his girls!

Happy Birthday Mommy!

We had a very special day for Mommy's birthday today (and at this time of day I think it's safe to say baby and I won't be sharing a birthday!)

Zach took the day off of work to spend time with Carolyn and I. In the morning, Carolyn and Zach made and iced cakes for my birthday. Carolyn did her cake all by herself (including the writing). Interestingly, there isn't much difference between the cake made by Zach and the one made by Carolyn. ;)




In the afternoon, we went to a friend's house to swim. It was the first beautiful day we've had in the longest time and we really, really enjoyed the sunshine! Carolyn has become very brave in the water and loves to swim around in her life jacket!

Bike Riding and Belly!

Carolyn loves to ride her bike! We took her to the bike path Sunday afternoon, which started out really well, but ended in her being exhausted and cranky - I guess we went past her limit! She didn't want to turn around ever, but really I think she didn't understand that as far as we went out she had to come back....

39 1/2 weeks!

Sandbox!!

Carolyn got a sandbox! It was a big team project for us! Grampap (Diane's dad) designed a 4x6 sandbox with corner seats and cut all the wood, making a "kit" for Zach to put together for Carolyn.

Zach and Carolyn worked hard to put the sandbox together. Carolyn was really excited about the project and wanted to be involved in every step.



After it was built, Diane and Carolyn stained the sandbox red to help protect it outside. Carolyn was really an excellent painter and painted very carefully!

We put the sandbox outside in the backyard and loaded it up with sand this afternoon. Carolyn helped dump the sand in and rake it to even it out in the box. Then she used her little wagon to bring all of her sand toys to the back yard. We're looking forward to a lot of outside fun this summer!!

Carolyn's Butterfly Project!

Last year friends of ours raised caterpillars into butterflies and I thought Carolyn would really enjoy doing that this year. So, we bought a kit that comes with a butterfly mesh house and a voucher to send away for the butterfly larvae (small caterpillars). Carolyn was very excited about the project and we got books out of the library and learned more about butterflies than I knew there was to learn! It's been a lot of fun for Zach and I to watch Carolyn's excitement as she learns about butterflies!

First, a jar of caterpillars arrives in the mail. There are 3 caterpillars and 2 are guaranteed to make the transformation to a healthy butterfly. Our first round was a no go - the caterpillars were "sick," but the company mailed out new ones right away and we experienced success the second time around! After a few days in the jar, the caterpillars climb to the ceiling and form their chrysalises. Here they are in their chrysalises in the left jar.

After they are secure in their chrysalis, it's time to transfer them to the butterfly mesh house. Zach and Carolyn carefully transferred them in and we waited for them to emerge as butterflies!

Eight days later, the first butterfly came out of her chrysalis. Carolyn named this butterfly "Dora." At first they are very sluggish and can't even fly until their wings dry, but within a few days they were flying around like crazy.

The next morning, Carolyn's second butterfly came out and we actually got to see him coming out of his chrysalis! She named him "proboscis" which is the name for a butterfly's tongue because when he came out he was twirling and un-twirling his long tongue!

The butterflies are supposed to live for 2-4 weeks and can be released outside anytime the temperature is about 55. We are feeding them sugar water on flowers and wadded up tissues and plan to enjoy them just a few days longer before setting them free!

Some Pictures!

I can't believe how long it's been since we updated again! Oooooops! We've been busy and mom has been extra tired (37+ week belly picture coming soon!). Zach had a business trip to England and life has just been "full" for us lately..... Things are coming together for the baby's arrival (barring the fact that the poor thing still has no name!) and the to-do list is getting shorter (or staying the same length as I add things as soon as Zach crosses them off!)

Enjoy some pictures and I'll post more of an update of our last 3 weeks within the next few days - Carolyn's butterflies have hatched and she is enjoying them tremendously so we'll need to post about that!