Two Months

Well, our little Jacob is 2 months old now. In some ways it seems like the time has flown by and in other ways it seems like it has slowly crawled by. I was really tired at first, more tired than I remember being after the others were born. I seem to be coming out of it though. I was having some challenges nursing the baby for a while too, but that is going much better. He is just a sweet, wonderful baby. He has such a gentle, pleasant temperment. He does great at night too, just getting up once almost every night since he was born. The other night he even slept for 7 or 8 hours straight ! It was just one night, but I will take it. The kids love him. In fact he is practically smothered half the day with children in his face. He takes it all in stride though. I think Ben has had the hardest time. He has required extra patience. I think he is coming along though. My house is a mess and I always seem to be running late, but other than that things are going well. We were overwhelmed with kindness the weeks after Jacob was born. So many people brought us food and gifts. It was wonderful! We felt so loved and were so thankful not to have to worry about one more thing. One wonderful lady even took Lizzy and Ben for a day and had a "party" just for them. They still talk about it. Another lady brought them to the park and out for ice cream. I am so grateful for the church and all the good people we know who helped us.

We also had a stream of family visitors. First was Greg's mom and her husband, Jim. They came just 2 weeks after Jacob was born. I was still having nursing troubles and spent a lot of time in my room with the baby. Thankfully they took good care of Lizzy and Ben, or rather, spoiled Lizzy and Ben (the other kids too, but they are at school most of the day). The went to parks and the musuem and went to "playground restaurants" (Burger King) and even to climb on the tractors at John Deere. Jim spoiled me by making a lot of the evening meals. We were so glad to have them come. Here are some pictures of their visit:








As usual things were crazy while they were here. I celebrated my 32nd birthday. It was a simple affair. Dinner at home, yummy cake, fun presents, and Jim and Cherrie watched the kids so we could go out for a little bit, even the baby stayed with them. Greg also had to speak at Stake Conference, where several congregations from our church meet together, in front of about 1,000 people. We chuckled that his assigned topic was peace and harmony in the home, as our home seemed to be turned upside with this new little one coming home. He did a great job though, and since he told a story about his good dad, I think it was neat that his mom was there to hear that (Greg's dad passed away about 10 years ago).

Here is a birthday picture.





In between visitors, Ben had his 3rd birthday. We had two celebrations; one was with just our little family with spaghetti and a yummy cake and presents. The other was with Ben's cousin, Lawson, who was born on the same day as he was. Since the Ebberts are now living in Iowa City, it was a great chance for the cousins to celebrate together. The kids always enjoy playing with their cousins. We are so happy they are so close now. Enjoy the pictures:



These are the cool dump truck birthday cakes that Aunt Deanna made for the boys. (Delicious too!)


Our next visitors were my grandparents. They have been our most faithful visitors since we have lived here. They have come just about every year we have lived here and years like this where we have a baptism and a baby blessing, they have come twice. They haven't missed any of the kids' blessings. They are fantastic visitors to have because they just sort of go with the flow. My grandpa always keeps busy with house projects. Both Greg and I really appreciate that. It is great to get some of those nagging projects done. He was also the official tickle monster for the week. My grandma is great at reading to the kids and talking to them. Lizzy, especially always seems to have something to say. They also helped a ton with meals and cleanup. The took Liz and Ben out to the musuem and while the girls were at a birthday party, they took the boys out on the town while Greg and I ( and the baby, this time, so we could be gone longer) could go out on a date. They also came to see and participate in Jacob's baby blessing. Look, more pictures!

Jacob's blessing was beautiful. He was blessed with a strong mind, body and spirit. He was blessed that he would be a wise and compassionate man and that people would come to him for advice. He was blessed that he would desire to live the gospel, to be baptised and live worthy of the covenants he makes throughout his life.

We were really happy that Tammy's dad and wife Nancy were able to be here for the blessing as well. They stayed for a few days afterwards and we enjoyed having them with us very much. They took Ben out birthday shopping (and he LOVED that - not to mention the other kids who were suprised with gifts as well). We all got to go out to dinner the Monday evening they were with us. Tuesday Lizzy and Ben and Tammy and Jake enjoyed a trip to the zoo with Grandpa and Grandma. The older kids were sad they missed out on all the fun (school again!) but were all glad to be able to spend a couple of evenings enjoying their grandparents. Here are some pictures from their visit:







Finally, since we're catching up for two months of missed posts, we'll end with some pictures from this weekend at the pumpkin patch. It was a cold and very windy day so it made for a good day to be picking pumpkins. Enjoy the pictures.