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Jennifer Grace

Welcome to the world, little one! Our new baby girl, Jennifer Grace was born on April 15th at 4:23pm weighing 8 lbs, 1o.4 ounces and she's just precious. She's a calm baby other than her fits of gas raging through her little body. She's learning the art of sleeping through the night but hasn't mastered it quite yet so I get to see a lot of the night's wonder now. :) For all those of you who prayed for my pregnancy and delivery, thank you oh so much. You don't know how powerful those prayers were and we're very thankful for your support. Jennifer was born naturally, a VBAC baby after my Cesarean with Wynter. The doctors said it couldn't be done but with the help of midwives, a wonderful Chiropractor who specializes in helping expectant mothers turn their babies in the right position to be born naturally and the constant attention and dedication of my own Doula, my sister Maureen, baby #2 was able to meet us first instead of the masked surgeons! :) Christian and Maureen were with me throughout my labor and were very supportive and strong when I needed them. My dear mother got to come visit us for 2 weeks to help me and the baby in her first days of life, a huge thank you to her home for letting her come, we love you guys! I hope you enjoy the pictures, everyone. Love, Julie

So Happy

I can't say enough how thankful I am for the beautiful people in my life. I truly feel like the most blessed person in the universe right now because of the special people who I've been honored to feel loved by. Today I turned 26 and I couldn't feel happier than I do now to be surrounded by loving souls who truly care about me--I want everyone to be able to feel this way and I pray that I can pass on the gift to those who feel it less than I get to right now. To be given parents who want the best for you and confirm this with every nod of approval and wish in the right direction, to have brothers and sisters who care about how I feel and want me to know that they love me by surprising me in the most thoughtful ways, to have 3 beautiful nieces and a treasured daughter who get more happiness out of giving than receiving and be able to be the recipient of those gifts, to live the joy of being wife to a man who has proven himself so selfless time and time again and smile every time he says he loves me, I just can't imagine why all of these gifts are mine to enjoy but I won't question them too long. I only want to express the thankfulness that I feel right now and have Him know that not one gift has gone unnoticed today, I see them all and I'm humbled by their power. Isn't it beautiful to be loved?

LNF

Don't know if I mentioned this before but "It" is a girl and we'll be meeting her in a month, yay! Everything has been going great with the pregnancy and my midwives are wonderful. I also have the privilege of my own Doula--Maureen! So, we're excited about the upcoming event and Wynter is looking forward to being a big sister. Tomorrow is her 3rd birthday so we just made chocolate cake together for tomorrow's party and I told her she could lick the bowl afterwards. Well, when I came back to the kitchen after getting something from my room I found my daughter with her head planted inside the mixing bowl. When she emerged, I saw what this picture of her shows--total mischief in all it's irresistibility! I laughed so hard and then made sure she had a nice, long bath.
Christian and I got to go back to the Dominican Republic for 6 days and while there, the resort held an arm wrestling contest which my strong husband simply won. There just wasn't any other way. He was rewarded with a bottle of Rum and I was so proud of him--he had to beat 3 meaty guys to be 1st place winner. Here are some pix Maureen just took of me so that I can remember how pregnant I was when it's all over. See ya!

Willy's 17th Birthday

Here we are, our happy family at Hooters for Willy's 17th birthday. Willy has been going to drum classes every Thursday so since his birthday fell on a Thursday it was the perfect opportunity to surprise him on the way home. Christian, Maureen, Danny & Chris were already there waiting for us and we all had a good time.

In other news, I'm 5 months along now and the baby seems to be growing faithfully. We're finding out tomorrow whether or not our kicker is a male or female child. I'll keep you posted. Love you all.

More

I'll post more pix of our lake soon, it's really beautiful at sunset. We fed the ducks and geese today and we asked Wynter what the name of a baby goose is and she quickly replied "A gosling!" Then one of her older cousin's said "Hey, I didn't even know that." Proud parents moment for Christian and I, and if Willy were there he would have felt that "Proud Teacher" feeling he's entitled to for teaching her all he's taught her, including the word gosling.
We had a BBQ today for Labor Day at our place with Christian's whole family over. I asked Chris & Willy what "sides" they wanted me to cook and Chris wanted Spanish Rice, Willy wanted Green Bean Casserole--the two dishes couldn't be more different from each other but I went ahead with it and they were both a hit, thank God! Mei, Willy & Chris were superb helpers in the kitchen and I didn't even have to get my hands dirty chopping onions and garlic thanks to them. :) By the way, we're a full house here. Our fun filled team consists of Maureen, Leona, Liz, Ju Ju, Chris Willy, Mei, Christian, Wynter & I and my brother Danny is here on his way to Taiwan (we're helping him with his fundraising for that), and then there's also a 90% possibility that Christian's sister and her 2 girls will be living downstairs pretty soon so we'll have relative neighbors! There are times when noise makes you wonder about the worth of the "proverb" Less is more, but then there are those other times when you're laying on the floor in the kids room watching them play with each other and staring at their beautiful faces, wondering how each one could be as unique as they are and then it hits you--More is more!! So, here's to having more. More than you can handle... because then God has a chance to do it for you. More than you deserve...because then you feel as small as you truly are. More than you can hope for...because that's when it all falls into perspective that your prayers are really being answered. Day by day, step by step, prayer by prayer. I love you, thanks for your love and prayers. XOXOXO.

Pix from our Thornton Family Reunion

The latest....

Hello, I'm back! Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately because of all the excitement in the air over here--yes, it's exhausting, but good. 2 things: We had a wonderful family reunion (just our immediate family) and it was a special time of happy, loving memories. 2nd thing: I'm pregnant! Yippee, yabadaba-doo! It's been like 8 weeks since I started wondering about it so yes, the truth has spilled out and I am happy. The popular question is "Are you hoping for a boy or a girl??" and strangely enough, I'm really not set on either one. I just want a child, that would be a nice start. Then God can work out the gender part and we can all be happy with what He provides. :) I've come to realize in life that what you push for doesn't necessarily make you happy. Ahem.
Anyway, although this may be a rather short post, at least it's filled with juicy tidbits that will hopefully make you want to comment on this here page. I love you!