Father's Day

Today is the day we honor the men in our life.  The men who raised us, and then men who help raise our children now.
Joseph has been a better daddy than I ever dreamed he would be.  It took a lot of time and heartache for us to become pregnant.  From the moment we found out we were pregnant with Ethan and Jacob, he was just overjoyed.  He was amazing through that pregnancy.  When we found out we were having two boys, he was even more excited.  He had a huge grin on his face as we walked out of the office.

When I was hospitalized, he spent 3.5 weeks sleeping on a pull out couch.  He did everything he possibly could to make things better.  He kept me laughing and happy every second he could, even though he was terrified.  When we lost Ethan and Jacob, I saw Joseph hurt more than I have ever seen a human hurt.  He was devastated.  He loved those little babies with all of his heart.  He loved them before he even knew them.

When we found out I was pregnant with Blake, I was terrified.  Joseph was excited, really excited.  We agreed that we were going to keep the pregnancy a secret for as long as possible. Within about three days, Joseph had told everyone he worked with.  He was so happy.  Joseph was meant to be a daddy.  I always thought he would be a good one.

Then.... Blake was born.




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I realized that I had no idea how great of a daddy he would be.  Joseph loves Blake so much.  They had an instant bond.

I found them on our back porch MANY mornings, enjoying the sun while I slept.


Blake loved snugging with Daddy.

We never fought over who would have baby duty.  Joseph has never looked at Blake as a chore, he loved spending the time with him.  He got up with him all the time.  Even when I was feeding him, Joseph would get up to make sure everything was OK. 

I love how Blake makes the same faces Joseph makes.  I was taking too long to snap the picture.  As you can see, they are both annoyed.  This is one of my favorite pictures of the two of them.  It makes me laugh every time.

 













Happy Father's Day, Joseph.  You are an amazing man and father. 

Daddy is so funny.

Joseph made Blake a video!   Blake adores this thing.  He laughs so hard at his daddy. 

Look What I Can Do....

Walking For Babies

We made it through our first March of Dimes walk! It was a wonderful experience.  My parents and sister came down to walk with me and Blake.  The weather was gorgeous, and the walk really went well.  We ended up raising 715.00!  That is amazing! I want to thank everyone who donated.


Here are the pictures :)




Our shirts.  Those are the real footprints.

Love my little man

He loves kisses

Someone wore himself out!

Grass

Before I became a homeowner, I had no idea how awesome grass was (the legal kind that grows in your yard).  I always wondered why people cared about their grass so much.  They make products to kill weeds, sprinklers, chemicals to make the grass grow, fertilizers, and pesticides to kill bugs that might hurt your "turf" (I know the lingo).  There are companies that their sole purpose is to make your grass grow.  They don't plant it.  They don't cut it.  They just come to your home and make it grow.  People obsess over grass....  so silly. It does nothing but grow and need to be cut.

::Enter homeowner Andrea::

I want grass! For some reason, our grass all died this winter.  Almost all of it.  My yard is brown.  There is a noticeable line between my neighbor's yard and our dead grass.  The ditch in front of our house has greener, happier grass than my yard.  Why did this happen?  I have no idea.  Obviously, we are not responsible grass owners, and everyone else in our neighborhood is.  We skipped the grass class in homeowner 101.

So, we have become the people I use to make fun of.  We have hired a company to come "save" our grass.  I water our grass.  Joseph planted a ton of grass seed.  The grass seed is coming up now.  The first time I saw it, you would have thought they were tiny diamonds poking out of the soil. I tried to take a picture to send to Joseph, but it is too short to see in a photo.

Sigh... I never knew grass was such a hard thing to grow.  It grows everywhere else.  People pull it from gardens and flower beds all. the. time.  Hopefully, by the end of this summer, I will have a great "after" picture for my blog.

My favorite video....

Update

We have been so busy! Things are going well though.  I am amazed at how fast Blake is growing.  I want time to slow down.  He is at a really fun age right now.  I say that at every phase, but this time is really fun.  When he was a newborn, I loved the snuggles.  When he was a few months old, I loved his first smiles.  Now, he is a little person.  He gets mad when he doesn't get what he wants, thinks things are funny, and recognizes Joseph and me. Blake got his first haircut and met the Easter bunny this weekend.  He was so excited.

I often wonder how things would have been with Ethan and Jacob.  Every first that Blake hits makes me think about them, and how they should be here. We should have witnessed all of these firsts with them.   Joseph and I still think about them every day.  Someone told me right after they died, "The pain never goes away, it just become easier to deal with".  So true.  It is such a part of our life.  I never, ever thought that watching Blake grow would make me miss them as much as it does.

I think about how much they missed.  They never knew the outside of those hospital walls.  They never saw the sun.  They never ate grass (Blake loves doing this... yuck).  Their lives were cut so short.