Two months have passed since our little Tirzah joined the family... at least, since she joined us in the outside world.  What a full, eventful and blessed two months they have been!

We were very blessed to have visits from my Mom and Dad, my Aunts Margie and Janette, my brother Caleb, and my brother and sister-in-law Randy and Raechel!!!  We also had a trip to Stephen's brother and sister-in-law's for a lovely Thanksgiving.  In the last post, there are pictures from Mom and Dad and Randy and Raechel's visits. 

It has also been a time of challenge and change.  Four little people is sure different then three.  :-)  Just getting all four loaded in the car and taking them shopping or something can seem rather daunting.  Of course the fact that it's winter adds to the job... socks, shoes, jackets, maybe a hat, and a baby loaded in a car seat with blankets.  :-)  I've never been much of a scheduler of my days, but would like to get better and be more organized in general.  You can pray that I'll have wisdom on what to make a priority day to day and what to drop. 

Tirzah has struggled with a little "colic" or something.  Seems she may have some food intolerance.  Right now my dairy intake is majorly reduced.  She's been doing fairly well lately.

Here are some snaps of moments from this last month.  Enjoy!  We sure are blessed!!!!!!!


Pizza (or "eet-zah", as Ittai calls it) at Sam's. 

Aunt Janette and Tirzah

Big brother Hil and Tirzah

What a precious!!!

Clara is getting to be such a helper!!!  The other day Tirzah was crying and big sister picked her up and started singing her own song to her.  She told me that part of the song was "when you fall down I'll pull you up".  When I walked in she was singing this sweet line over and over: "just a little smile will help the pain."  And Tirzah was getting dozy and smiling!!!

And the end result of getting held and sung to....

Just a quick post to share a few pictures from this last month!  I'll try to return soon with more pictures, news and explanations!!!

Introducing Tirzah Lynn

A little girl prayed ever so faithfully that God would give her a sister.  But Daddy and Mommy were feeling pretty sure this baby was going to be a boy.  However, Clara really wanted this "family to be even", three boys and three girls.  And she really wanted a little sister.  She kept praying.

And our very good God gave Clara her little sister.

Last week we welcomed Tirzah Lynn, into our little family!  She arrived after a few hours of VERY light labor, followed by just under an hour of intense labor.   The serious labor went soooo quickly, that our midwife didn't even make it in time, and Daddy delivered his little girl.  I had decided to take a rest and see what happened.  I laid down at about 2:30 and set the alarm for an hour later.  Serious labor kicked in and baby was born before the alarm went off. 

Tirzah was 8lbs 14oz, and about 19 1/4 in long!  And she is lovely little bundle of blessing from the Lord Jesus!

Some Local Cuteness

 

Watching a video together.  Thought the arm behind sister was very cute. 

 



Hil On A Recent "Excursion"!!!

Waking Up...

... Need I Say More? :-)

Breaking News...

A precious girl lost her first tooth last night and here she is the next morning showing off the fine gap.  :-)  She's growing up folks!!!



In other news, her Mommy continues to get rounder and rounder.  :-)  Baby is quite active, which is fun.  Depending which dates you go with, I could be as far along as 36 1/2 weeks.  We had been saying I was due beginning of November, but my original date had been sooner then that, and at my last check up my measurements indicated that those earlier dates might not be so far off.  We shall see.  The Lord knows when this little one will make his or her appearance.  Hilkiah told me the other day that he can't wait for the baby to get here.  And Clara often bestows hugs and kisses on Mommy's tummy.  The other day they got to help go through the bin of baby girl clothes, to have stuff picked out and ready for when baby arrives (we've got blues, neutrals and pinks ready to go).  Clara and Hil had a blast.  It was so sweet to hear Hil carrying on about how "cute!" the little outfits were!  :-)


Some very kind friends threw a baby shower for me the other day.  Here are just a couple pictures.  In this first picture we are playing the game where they all had to guess how round I was and then rip off toilet paper to the length they thought.  Oh, and yes, I'm wearing a tiara...not my normal accessory... guess you could say it was "inflicted" on me.  :-)

 

Clara and the dear friend who made the lovely cake for me!  The cake was so pretty AND delicious!  I love the excited expression on Clara's face.  It was so special to have her along at the shower.  She enjoyed being part of the gift opening and getting to hand me gifts and hop up and down and clap as I pulled out the treasures!  :-)  The shower was lovely and our friends really blessed us.

 Ice cream party.  :-)

 A fun little guy!  Ittai is just going through this absolutely precious and adorable stage of life right now.  He can just melt a Mommy and Daddy heart.  And he is becoming quite the funny little fellow and catching on to the idea of making people laugh.  :-)  He also likes drama.  The other day he accidentally crashed on his little car.  He then decided that was pretty neat and proceeded to have some careful, on purpose crashes.  I saw him carefully, and gingerly "fall" over the handlebars and then after a bit he pulled the car over on himself.  :-)

 Another ice cream party shot.

A cute train or tandem bike invention, that happened recently.

A Few Sweet Moments

 On a Road Trip

 A Chilly Day In July

One Morning Awhile Back, We Discovered This Cute Little Turtle

 

 

One of our trikes has the perfect spot for giving rides to little creatures.  :-)

Summer Fun

A friend blessed us with a slip and slide for Clara's Birthday and the kids have had fun with it!  Something about water... little folks just love it! 

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for bringing us so much joy in the things You created!

Great Grandma and Grandpa

Over the last few months, we've had the unexpected privilege of having my grandparents in town.  Before they left I had to capture some shots of them with some of their greatgrands!  :-)  Thought my mom, in particular, would like seeing these!  :-)

More On The Trip

 So, here are some more pictures from our quick trip this last weekend.  Stephen was taking a class on Saturday, and invited the fam to come along.  I was rather dubious as to how enjoyable of a time the kids and I would have with whatever we could find to do.  Stephen's class was in a town of about 400+ people.  The kids and I spent the day about 15 miles away in a town that was bigger, but definitely Small-Town-America.  Turns out Small-Town-America has a lot to offer!!!  We had such a great time!  In the morning the kidos had a super fun time at this very unusual park that was part fort, part farm, part old time town.  First few pictures are from there.

Then we toured a neat stockade replica that had all kinds of interesting old time stuff to check out!  The other little guy in this picture is the grandson of the lady who was showing us around.

 My little lady got to try out a sidesaddle.

And here is Hil posing with an old apple cider press.

We had a delicious lunch at a Bakery and had an afternoon dip in the very nice city pool.  Fun day!  Thank You, Lord!