Introducing Henry ...

 Henry Theron Roundy

August 5, 2013

7 lbs 10 oz 21 in

We are so excited to have our little man here with us.  He was born Monday, August 5th at 4:24 pm.  I was admitted to the hospital that morning to be induced.  After the speed of Grace's labor I was really anxious about this one so I opted for the induction.  Unlike his sister Henry took his time.  They started the pitocin at 9 am and things didn't really start progressing much till around 3pm.  At that point things got more intense.  I had opted not to get the epidural until I thought that I really needed it.  I waited too long, I got some IV drugs, but no real pain killers (I don't reccomend waiting that long).  I was pretty loopy from what they gave me so I am not totally clear on how things went down.  I know I wasn't fully dialeted yet, but Henry's heart rate dropped pretty dramatically so the doctor felt he needed to deliver so I started pushing at 8cm (once again I don't reccommend this method).  The doctor helped out and he came pretty quickly, it took a minute to get him crying, but he was perfectly healthy and just perfect.

He has the same chin and mouth as Grace and really looks so much like his dad!  He is a very handsome boy!

Grace met him that evening and immediatly wanted to hug and kiss him.  She has a cute baby talk voice and she just oohs and ahhs over him.  It's so cute!

 

Our little family of four!

We brought Henry home on Wednesday.  Grace was excited to have him there and loves to hold him for two seconds at a time.

He is so tiny!

 But it is so fun to have a sweet tiny baby again, and I love seeing Grace take on her role as big sister!

In case you were wondering ...

I get asked all the time where Grace's blue eyes and blonde hair come from.  I have always said that she looks a lot like my mother, but her mouth is Eric's.  After seeing this picture of my mom I am convinced, but I will let you judge for yourself ...

Grace

Her Grandma Kesler

Summer Vacation

First off ... I will mention that as it typical, whenever we go to see my family I never get around to taking any pictures.  I wish I had, we did lots, but alas ...

This summer we did our summer vacation with my family.  Actually we saw lots of family, but the bulk of the trip was to see my family.

After some trouble getting our trip started ... I won't get into it, I will just say that I am done with Frontier Airlines ... we set off for Salt Lake.  We got there on Saturday morning and picked up our car and met Eric's sisters for brunch.  It was fun to see them and Grace enjoyed having them walk/chase her around the retaurant and its parking lot.  Then we were off to Idaho.

We stayed at my parent's house in Meridian.  We all went to church together on Sunday morning which has to be the first time that has happened in years!  We added 6 kids to their nursery ... probably would have been good to warn the primary of that ahead of time.  I think the most entertaining moment was when in the hallway moving between sharing time and class my nephew Junior was telling the teacher that he was my little brother Jackman's nephew.  Junior has 5 inches or more on Jackman and is 3 months younger than him.  I saw the teacher kind of shrug it off like "yeah right", but the funny part is that is true and I don't think most people are likely to believe him.  Maybe not so funny to you, but I just about died!

We headed up to a cabin in Garden Valley that afternoon where we stayed until Wednesday.  We had lots of pregnant woman and my sister Jenn who had her baby six weeks ago.  So we were really limited as to what we could do so we crafted.  We all use the same Christmas stockings and all needed to make some more so we got that done and made all the kids their 4th of July shirts.  It was fun to sit and craft with my mom and sisters and Eric was great about taking care of the kids.  And as is required for any Harper women get together there was a visit to a quilting store in town.  I now have a new long term project to work on.  I am very excited!  It was a fun few days to just relax and spend some time together talking and letting our kids play together.

We headed back down to Meridian on Wednesday where we took kids to play at the splash pad and the park ... and of course sno cones from Ali's Sno Shack!  That night my sisters and I and our husbands got to go out for dinner sans kids.  It was so nice to get to sit and talk and not have to chase kids.  Pretty sure there were a couple moments where laughter brought me to tears so it was a good time.

Thursday (aka the 4th of July) Eric, Grace and I packed up and said goodbye and headed to Blackfoot (where both of my parents grew up).  In the 4 years we have been married we have meant to go there a lot, but have never made it.  We (now that I think about it this was a really bad idea, glad it worked out ok) decided to take the highway route accross the state instead of the interstate.  The highway takes a little longer, but it is prettier and you go through Crater of the Moon.  So we took that route which took longer than we thought it would and there was no where to stop for lunch, but we did get to see Craters of the Moon which Eric had never been to and I hadn't been too since I was a kid.  It was amazing as always.  If you look close you can see Grace is wearing her 4th of July shirt we made her :).

After a lot of driving we made it to Blackfoot.  We stopped first at my Grandma and Grandpa Harper's house.  We stayed there and visited for a few hours.  Grace kept Grandma busy playing with her.  She also made sure to stop what she was doing and ask Grandma if she was ok every time she coughed, which only lead to laughing and more coughing, but it was cute.  Of course I had to show Grandma my new quilt project.  She was upset we went to a quilt store without her ;).  Grandma and Grandpa both celebrate their 80th birthday's this year as well and their 60th anniversay.  We will unfortunatly miss out on those festivities due to baby boy's due date so it was fun to get to see them.  

We then made it over to Kesler's house where a small 4th of July gathering was taking place.  Grace enjoyed jumping on the trampoline while I got a chance to catch up a little bit with some family I haven't seen in a long time.  I also got a few minutes to talk to my Grandpa Kesler ... not sure he ever realized who I was, but it was good to see him and talk to him for a little while.  And as if we could make this day any longer we decided to leave from there and head straight back down to Salt Lake.  We did get a nice fireworks show at every town we passed along the way.  Grace was a real trooper when it came to all the travel on this trip.

We spent the next couple days in Salt Lake with Eric's sisters.  They experienced taking an over tired 2 year old out to breakfast ... once again a lot of time was spent outsite until the food arrived.  We all took naps and went to the park.  It was fun to just hang out and play with Grace.  Saturday we went to Hogle Zoo.  As usual Grace loved the animals. 

She watched 2 bears wrestling in the water for a long time.

She liked the giraffes, but their long black tongues kind of creep me out.

The zoo has lego exhibits right now so here is Eric as a lego Gorilla.

And Grace.

It was fun to get to take her somewhere fun.  I have been lousy at that this summer being super prenant and all.  That night her aunts were nice enough to watch her and let Eric and I go out to dinner which is always nice.

It was a great trip!  I am glad we went.  Looking back I would never reccommend someone travel like that 35 weeks pregnant cause it was rough, but I am very glad we did.  But it felt wonderful to get back to our house and sleep in my own bed.

Weekend in Nebraska

Eric decided he needed a break from work so this past weekend we took a couple days off and headed to Nebraska to visit Eric's parents.  We met them in Omaha on Friday morning and went to the zoo.  Grace had been there before, but she was only four months old.  She enjoyed it much more this time.  She loved the aquariam ... this girl loves anything to do with water!    Here she is looking at penguins.

The zoo is huge so Grace took a quick sit down break with Grandpa.

When she saw the carousel she really wanted to get on it, but the wait in line was too much for her ... by the time she got on she was screaming and clinging to Eric ... once it got started she totally relaxed and I think even enjoyed her first carousel ride.

After our day at the zoo we headed back to Seward to spend more time with Grandma and Grandpa.  We took Grace to the school a couple of times to play on the toys.  She has apparently gotten much braver since the fall.  She freely went down the slides over and over again on her own.  Like the crazy static hair?

Her other favorite part of the park was the swing.  Here she is with Grandma.

It was a quick weekend away, but it was fun.  Grace enjoyed all of the attention and really enjoyed seeing her Grandma and Grandpa Roundy.  We took this quick picture before we left.  A miracle because Grace was screaming while we were trying to take it. 

Big News!

Ok, ok, I know it has been FOREVER since I have posted.  Sorry ... I tend to get behind and then think that I need to do a million posts to catch up on everything and then I don't.  Sorry.  This is not going to be a catch up post.  That is too daunting.  So I will get going again and try to do better.

The one thing that I will catch you up on is the really big news.  I didn't share this until a couple weeks ago on facebook so don't feel like you are too in the dark.

This summer we are expecting an addition to our family, which is very exciting.  Grace is officially going to be a big sister and the really exciting part is that ...

I find the whole boy thing pretty overwhelming.  After spending the last almost two years with a little girl it just feels strange to start looking at boy thing.  We are very excited and anxious for him to make his arrival, it won't be until sometime around August 9th.  With any luck he will have a name by then, but I make no promises.  

In any case, getting ready for this little man is certainly keeping me busy.  I have been working on sewing his crib bedding and getting Gracie ready to move to a big kid bed.  Lots more to do and it is much more challenging this time around with a toddler trying to help me.

Grace's Birthday

I know I am really late at getting to this but last week just got really busy.  Grace has a small and simple first birthday.  She opened presents with mom and dad and Grandma Roundy via skype.  She got a music table, walker, some clothes, and an alphabet for the refrigerator.   She loves to open presents and had fun playing with her new toys.

Here is the alphabet I made her.  It was a fun little project.  (I made another one for my nephew and I hope he likes it too.)

Our friends the Timmin's came over for dinner.  We had some good macaroni and cheese which Gracie loved!  She wasn't so sure about the cake though.  She kind of looked at it for a while.  Touched it, and then didn't like the frosting sticking to her hands.  We couldn't really get her to eat the cake until I scraped the frosting off and then she liked it.  

So we gave her some birthday cake ice cream and she loved that!

And here she is in her post birthday dinner bath.  

We love this little girl and had a lot of fun celebrating her birthday.  I can't believe it!  It has gone so fast, but she is more and more fun every day.

I do have videos, but they are too long to post so if you want to see them let me know.

Eric's Birthday

This one if for Eric's mom.  Eric's birthday is 4 days after Grace's.  It is an eventful day for our families.  Eric shares his birthday with my mother and both of them were born on their parent's wedding anniversaries.  Eric was really hoping that Grace would be born on his birthday too, but I like that she gets her own day.

His birthday was on Sunday so it was really a normal Sunday. When he got home we had a good birthday dinner and Eric got the one thing he really wanted; an ice cream cake.  We talked with family.  My whole family sang to him viz skype while they were at my parent's house for my mom's birthday dinner.  It was a nice relaxing day and it means Eric is five years older than me for the next three months which I really enjoy.

North Carolina Vacation

For our summer vacation this year we went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina with Eric's family.  It was our first attempt at a long road trip with Gracie (21 hours of driving over 2 days).  Poor Grace was teething and not too happy about being in the car all day.  

On the way there we were able to stop and spend the night with my brother Ricky, his wife Julie and their son Jack.  We had not gotten to see Jack yet, so it was fun to go meet him and introduce him to Gracie.  They are only 3 months apart so they are each others closest cousins in age.  This is them right before we left for church in the morning.

We stayed in Frisco, NC which is on Hatteras Island.  While there we visited the Hatteras lighthouse which is the tallest lighthouse of the 5 that are on the Outer Banks.  You can still climb this one, Eric and I did, supposedly it is the same as a twelve story building.  I have to admit I was out of breath by the time we reached the top.  It was a muggy day, but we could still see pretty far.  Gracie hung out at the bottom with Grandma and Grandpa.

Over by the Hatteras beach access there is a large pond that has lots of turtles.  People have apparently been feeding them over the years because when you pull up and get out and walk over to the pond they swim over to come see you.  Here are Eric and Gracie checking out the turtles ... I had no idea what this was leading to.

Another site that had to be seen during our visit was at Kitty Hawk where they have the Wright Brother's Memorial. 

Gracie with Grandpa.

We stayed in a beach house that was just 5 or 6 houses in from the beach.  Grace loves water and decided she loved the ocean and sand too.  Here she is playing in the sand with Grandma.

Grace LOVED the water!!  Here is a fun little video of her running into the waves.

On our last full day there we took the ferry to Ocracoke Island.  Here is our little family riding the ferry ... the car is on the other side of the boat somewhere.

While there we visited the Ocracoke lighthouse.  You can't climb this one, but it was fun to see.  Grace saw it with Grandma and Grandpa.

Eric and I tagged along.

While on the island we went looking for a souvenir.  We introduced her to all sorts of cute little stuffed animals and she just threw them all away.  That was until she found the giant turtle.  She clung to him and wouldn't let go ... she still hasn't ... she sleeps with him now.  

We took a quick family picture before we left.  It was a really fun vacation, Grace learned lots of new things and we got to relax and see some new places (well new to Grace and I, Eric and his family had been there before).

Lucky for us Grace did much better in the car on the drive home.

Starved Rock

Eric had Good Friday off of work so we got all of our work done on Friday and on Saturday headed down to Utica, IL to go to Starved Rock State Park.  When we got there we had a picnic and then headed out for a short hike.  Here is Gracie getting a ride from Dad.  (Eric was a good sport and let me put the moby on him to carry the baby).  P.S I love it!

Gracie sported her cute hat to keep the sun off.  She liked it I think, plus I think it makes her look extra super cute!

Here we are on the high point of Starved Rock (to all my family and friends out west, yes this is a high spot for Illinois, I know, it's sad).  We are on the banks of the Illinois River for anyone who is getting their bearings.  

It really is a pretty area.  We hiked some more trails back in the woods.

Me and my honey :).

Dad and baby taking a look at the gorge next to us.

Not sure why, I thought it was awesome!

Baby is in this picture, she is just behind Eric's head.

We had a good time and it was nice to just get out for the day and enjoy time together as a family and time outdoors.

Seven Months

Grace turned seven months old yesterday.  Time really does fly!  She is getting so big and so active and really developing a personality all her own.  She is such a happy baby and is just so much fun to play with.  I feel so lucky that I get to stay home and be with her all day.  Don't get me wrong it can be exhausting, but it is wonderful!

Gracie is still being as stubborn as always and refuses to roll over.  She can get up on her knees a little bit and scoots around some, but not crawling.  She thinks she is going to work on some teeth, she chews on anything she can get her hands on including her hands all day.  She is getting more and more interactive with me and her toys.  She enjoys just sitting on the floor surrounded by toys and experimenting with all of them.  Grace has discovered her feet and loves to play with them and stick them in her mouth, socks and all.  

Getting her to sit still for a picture was a little tough, but this is her ... getting so big!

To celebrate her seven month birthday Grace started swimming lessons at the YMCA yesterday.  She seemed to love the water and a natural at kicking as we moved around.  It was a fun new experience.  I am excited to go next week!  Plus, she is just super cute in her swimsuit!

And here is just another video of her being funny.  We sure love this baby!

Answer

So . . . to finally answer the question.

My rainbow colored yarn project was an afghan made to look like a bunch of crayons.  (sorry the picture is blurry, I just couldn't get a clear one and I just gave up).  This was a gift for my sister Ali's soon to be born baby boy.  I found the idea online, but I wasn't quite satisfied with their layout and pattern so I took the concept and wrote my own pattern (a first, but it was an easy one).  I thought it turned out pretty cute. Grace had a good time tasting all the yarn as I tried to use it.  Eric just enjoyed teasing me as I worked on it.