July Update Part 1

		Rehearsal VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

At the end of June we were able to take part in beautiful beach wedding for Courtney and Greg.  Drew married the two and Makenna was the flower girl.  The wedding was so pretty.   The beach was in Carmel at Monastery beach aka Mortuary beach.  Many people have died at this beach because of its incredibly strong undercurrents.  We kind of laughed about the name but sure enough the day of the dress rehearsal the ambulances and fire trucks rolled in and we watched in disbelief as they pulled out two people from the water.  They DID NOT DIE thank goodness!  They were divers who fought the current coming back to shore and got so tired they could no longer swim anymore.  Needless to say the rehearsal was slightly delayed. 

The wedding was so fun. We were a little nervous about Makenna getting down the isle because she was so exhausted  from all our late nights and sharing a hotel room, but she did it.  It took her about 10 minutes (well it felt like that any way) to make it all the way down the isle.  She took her sweet time and I think she made eye contact with everyone as she walked and dropped her petals.  She was smiling and looking as cute as ever as she went down the isle.  None of us really new what to do with her slow as molasses pace.  But people took loads of pics and just smiled back.  Drew did a beautiful job with the ceremony.  It all came together so beautifully!  Before the wedding we had some time to kill in Monterey so we all played at Dennis the Mennis Park.  That park is SUPER fun and we all agreed to go back for the day another time. 

 

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Drew left for the Dominican Republic for 13 days and 12 nights.  He took a group of 12 students to serve the people there.  He was VERY exhausted we he came home.  We had some fun family time before he left and again when he came home.  While he was gone I schedule a lot of fun things, playdates, we went to Tyler’s 3rd and his brother Dylan’s 1st birthday party.  During this trip Drew’s compound had internet access, so we were able to Skype with him nearly every day.  This helped Makenna get through her time without her Daddy.  It was really hard for her in the beginning but it got easier as time went on. 

		Tyler’s Bday VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Makenna was SO excited to see her Daddy.  She new we were going to the church to pick him up so she put her shoes on and was “ready” a whole hour early!  I told her that Daddy would call us when he was 20 minutes from church, so every time my phone rang she would yell with excitement and run me the phone.  I thought for sure she was going to give him the snub and silent treatment, but it was quite the opposite.  Daddy, help me with this, daddy play with me, daddy read to me…Drew loved every second of it and was glad to be home.  We ALL missed him…well, Bailey probably didn’t know any different.  (The pic below is of Makenna and Bailey waiting for Drew’s bus.)  I had suggested to her that we make a sign for Daddy.  She decided herself what to write on the sign.  In case you can’t see it, it says “Come get kisses Daddy, I love my Daddy”.  It was adorable!!!!  She was so proud of her sign.

One of the activities we did when Drew got home was that we took Makenna to her first movie theater movie, Winnie the Pooh.  She was so tired from waiting up for Drew the night before that she just snuggled during the movie.  Enjoyed every minute of it, but snuggled.  It was a super cute movie.

The next day she wanted to go to Daddy’s park, which is the park that Drew grew up playing at.  Janae and Mom-mom met us there for a little visit.  We are glad to have Daddy home!  Stay tuned for part 2…

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The S’s of Summer…

The summer has finally begun and we were more than ready for it!  In our house, and with Drew working in youth ministry, summers are usually insanely busy.  We are chugging along and finding quiet time at home where ever we can, keeping in mind that summer is just a  busy season…by mid August it should start to quiet down a bit.  Makenna is now in AVAC swim school once a week with her friend Layla.  She has completed two lessons and loves it.  She is a little apprehensive about going under water, but ready or not, next week she will take the plunge! Bailey is growing so fast…she almost 3 months old now.  She smiles A LOT!  She is super chunky, which we absolutely love.  For the past month, she has been sleeping beautifully at night giving me anywhere from 6-8 hours of sleep.  I have felt like a new woman with all that sleep.  Makenna adores her sister and still smothers her, often, with hugs and kisses.  She is an excellent big sister.  Below are some pictures from our summer so far…

Smiles

School—Makenna and I are s-l-o-w-l-y going through the alphabet to learn each letter.  The goal is for her to be able to recognize each letter of the alphabet.  She started with A-is for Alligator Alan.  In the picture above she had her “A” lunch with angel hair pasta, apricots, and animal cookies (I know no protein) and below she is doing apple prints. 

Sloppy Mud Fights—Drew and Makenna had a mud fight in the back yard.  Mind you, it was freezing cold the day they did it, and Drew insisted that they do it in their underwear and rinse off with the hose, but they had a ton of fun.  Makenna was SO excited about it, and talked about her mud fight for days.  Oh, and Drew ended up rinsing in the hose and carried Makenna to the warm shower…such a kind Daddy  

(Before)

(During)

(After)

More SMILES

Sisters

Smooches

Swim Class

They throw out floating balls and the kids have to practice their arms to retrieve the balls and then practice their kicks as they carry the balls back to the basket.  So fun!

The Daddies and their girls…

Best Buds!  These girls are so dang cute together…they see each other at church, at play dates, swim class, and on the weekends while their Daddies play soccer together. 

More Sisters and Smiles…

Silly-ness

Sand—we met Drew up at Manresa for the summer retreat.  His 5th year doing camp and my first time in 3 years not going.  Makenna is a total beach girl, she LOVED the sand.  Bailey just slept on Amy Smith the whole day…

Sleep

Bailey Rose

We welcomed Bailey Rose Froese on April 1st at 3:44 AM.  She was 8lbs and 20 inches long.  My labor was fast and extremely painful, but worth it all in the end when she was placed in my arms for the first time. 

LABOR STORY: I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for about 3 weeks prior to actually going into labor.  On Thursday night I was waiting for the labor pains to go away like all the previous times.  Well, they didn’t go away and they started getting slightly worse around 10:30pm.  I suspected that I was in active labor, but wasn’t totally convinced.  Drew was playing hockey, and when he got home we started actually clocking the contractions.  They were all over the place, in time apart from each other, but intensity was strong and they lasted consistently about a minute or so in length.  I called the Labor and Delivery around 12:30 am and they told me to wait about an hour and continue clocking the contractions.  They wanted me to be consistently 5-7 minutes apart.  I should have gone with my gut instinct and just insisted on coming in because I REALLY REALLY wanted an epidural.  My biggest fear was not having enough time for an epidural.  Needless to say, we didn’t make it an hour before I called to let them know we were on our way.  The contractions were still 7-10 minutes apart, but were strong as ever!  We had to pack up the car, and called my sister-in-law over to be at the house with Makenna.  By the time we got in the car and to the hospital it was about 2:15am.  I had to stop in the parking lot twice to breath through my contractions.  I was extremely proud of myself for staying on top of the pain and being able to manage without crying or yelling, just quiet breathing.  That would soon, very soon, change…After getting admitted to the observation room, we waited.  Drew had to flag down a nurse to let them know I was in a lot of pain.  The whole time I kept thinking I just need an epidural and it will be fine.  The nurse came in, hooked me up to a monitor, saw that my contractions were about 2 minutes apart, and called in the doctor.  She checked my progress and I was 7.5 cm dilated.  The first words out of my mouth were… “do I still have time for an epidural?”  They told me I did and quickly wheeled me into  Labor and Delivery.  It was getting harder to manage the pain, but I tried to stay on top of it.  As they tried and failed to get the IV started for the epidural, I started pushing.  They checked me again and in ten minutes time I progressed to 9.5 cms!!!  The nurse told me that I would not have time for an epidural.  Shear panic came over me… well that sucks!  One minute later my water broke and I began pushing.  Yikes!  The pain was the most intense thing I have ever felt.  But after about 30 mins of pushing she came out healthy and crying.  Yes, I have had a baby naturally.  Yay for me.  But next time, I still want an epidural. 

 

My brother and sis-in-law brought Makenna to the hospital after she was born.  She came in around 5am.  She was so mesmerized by her new little sister it made my heart melt.  She just kept looking at her, kissing her, and saying I love you.  

Makenna helped us pick Bailey’s middle name.  We gave her three choices and she adamantly picked Rose.  We even tried to trick her to make sure and she was positive she wanted Bailey’s middle name to be Rose. 

Proud Daddy.

Makenna picked the pink Monkey outfit for Bailey to come home in.

Makenna also picked out the fabric for Bailey’s “b.b” her blanket.  She helped tie the knots around the edge. 

 

Makenna adores her sister and we adore them both!  It has been an adjustment to go from a family of 3 to 4, but we are managing.  We are richly blessed and thankful….