Steve, Heather, & Emma

Lily Grace is born!!

2008-08-13T08:03:00.001-07:00

Lily Grace was born on Aug. 3, 2008 at 2:23 A.M. She was 6 lbs. 11 oz. and 18 inches long. We were blessed with a faster labor and delivery this time, and Lily was born just about 20 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. Below are some pictures of the new baby girl in the family. Big sister Emma just loves "Baby Lily" and is always wanting to give her hugs and kisses.
I guess it's a good thing I am so sensitive and understanding since I will be living in a house with 3 girls. HAHA. I truly feel blessed to have been given 2 wonderful healthy daughters to raise with my wonderful wife. God is Good.

Heather, Emma, and Lily at the hospital. Doesn't Emma look thrilled?

A family of four.

Lily resting peacefully.

I love this picture of Lily. She just looks so perfect.

A happy big sister with little Lily. It looks like Lily is smiling too.

Some More Christmas Pictures

2007-12-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

Mama and Emma at Jen's house for Christmas.

Emma waiting patiently to open her present.

Dada and Emma enjoying the snow together.

It's Almost Christmas

2007-12-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to post a few pictures from our Christmas parties this past weekend. We did not do Christmas cards this year so I wanted to at least show some pictures.

Emma putting ornaments on the tree.

This was the Christmas card picture - if we did Christmas cards.

Our little angel.

Great Grandma with the Great Grandkids.

Emma taking some time to relax.

Excitement Over the Thanksgiving Weekend!!

2007-11-28T06:47:00.000-08:00

Well, It was another enjoyable Thanksgiving for our family. We went to my parents on Wednesday night and Heather's parents on Thursday afternoon. It worked out well to separate all the turkey eating by about 24 hours so I was able to get my ample fill.

Heather, Emma, and I ventured out to the stores on Friday for the "Black Friday" sales. It really wasn't too bad with crowds and lines, and we did get some good deals. Check out the picture below for a shirt we thought we would give to Emma for Christmas.

So, What do you think?

Also, here are some pictures from Halloween.

Happy Fall

2007-11-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I missed posting over the summer, but here are some recent photos for late summer/fall. Hope you enjoy.

Final trip to the beach for the year.

Emma sitting on her little bench from Aunt Ruthie.

Emma with Elle and Megan at the park.

Picking out pumpkins for Halloween.

Trying on some winter gear. Always in style.

Enjoying the springtime

2007-06-01T11:52:00.000-07:00

Emma has had quite an exciting spring/summer so far, and it is not officially summer yet. So far she has gone on a trip to the Brookfield Zoo, Timber Ridge indoor water park in Lake Geneva, and to the White Sox game. Heather and Emma went to the water park with Heather's Aunt Susie and her cousin Morgan, but I was not able to go. They had a lot of fun there, and I stayed home and was able to get a lot accomplished on our latest home remodeling project. I will post pictures of that soon, but check out the other pictures below.

Heather and Emma at the zoo on Mother's Day

Emma and a friendly goat at the children's zoo

They even named a cow after her. Is that something to be proud of?

Emma at the water park saluting Heather

Emma enjoying the park in Lake Geneva

Her first White Sox game sporting the White Sox jersey.

Watching the players warm up before the game

Daddy and daughter at the baseball game

Emma's 9 Month Pictures

2007-05-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our favorites from Emma's 9 month pictures. It is always so hard to choose which pictures to buy, and you usually walk away spending more money than you thought. Oh well, She will only be 9 months old once.

Weekend Getaway and Enjoying the Outdoors

2007-04-27T11:02:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago we went up to Door County, Wisconsin for a long weekend getaway. It was so nice to getaway and spend some "family time" together. We stayed at my Uncle Jay's condo in Ephraim, WI. My parents went up there on Monday and we got up there late on Thursday night and stayed until Monday afternoon. My parents left to come home on Saturday, but we were able to enjoy spending all day Friday with them walking around, shopping, and dining out. The sweet potato fries at J.J.'s in Sister Bay are the best!! The weather was nice while we were up there, sunny and in the 50's everyday. We were able to go hiking on Saturday at Peninsula State Park and enjoy all the beautiful scenery. We really had a great time - Thanks Uncle Jay and Aunt Sandy for the use of the condo.

Hiking down by Green Bay.

Emma and Heather enjoy a day of shopping in Egg Harbor.

At Peninsula State Park

At home in the backyard enjoying the warm temps.

We are trying to teach her manners-no feet on the table.

Emma's First Easter

2007-04-11T06:50:00.000-07:00

We had a nice Easter and enjoyed getting Emma all dressed up in her new Easter dress for church. After church we went to my parents for lunch and then just hung out there for the rest of the afternoon.

The cutest Easter Bunny ever.

Can I please take these ears off now?

I love the look on her face in this picture.

Pretty new easter dress.

Emma giving Mommy a kiss.

More friends, nice weather, swimming, and first foods

2007-03-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

More play dates for Emma - she has more friends than we do. (See picture below) The warm weather recently has really been great. We have had the chance to take Emma outside a lot for walks - which she enjoys. We also took Emma swimming at a hotel as we celebrated Heather's parents anniversary. It was fun to hang out and swim with everyone, and all the kids loved it. We have been trying some solid foods with Emma which she likes sometimes, but other times is not too interested in. The first food we tried with her was hard boiled egg yolk, then we tried avocado, then we gave her peas, then sweet potato, and then a raw carrot to chew on. She seemed to like the peas and sweet potato the most. She also enjoyed chewing on the cold raw carrot - probably because it felt good on her gums and new teeth. I guess she will eventually start enjoying solid foods - everyone does as some time in their life so what's the rush.

Emma with her friend Brendon

Heather & Emma enjoying the nice weather

The fam at the pool

Silly Emma with her shirt on her head

She sure liked playing with the avocado. I think she ate a little.

What's up doc?

Playtime with friends

2007-03-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

Wow! 2 blog postings in the same day. I have not been able to log into my blogger account lately, so now that I did I figured I better make the best of it. Below are some pictures of Emma with her friends. She has been a busy girl with all her play dates.

Emma and her friend Teddy having a staring contest.

Talor and Emma on a lunch date at the Smith's

Charlie and Emma just hangin' out

Emma with her cousin Megan.

More 6 month pictures

2007-03-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more 6 month pictures of Emma that we
had taken at the Picture People. Sorry the photos are so small.
Also, Emma's yoga picture did get published in the magazine!!
We are waiting for our copy to come in the mail so we can see it.
This will be a definite keepsake for her scrapbook.

Yoga Baby

2007-02-28T13:40:00.000-08:00

Here is our little yoga baby doing her daily exercise routine. It is tough for Emma having a personal trainer/yoga instructor for a mom, but at least she will stay in shape.
Last week Emma starting pulling herself up to standing, and now she is always wanting to grab on to something and stand up. She is progressing so fast I can hardly believe it, but it is so much fun seeing her grow and learn. Hope you enjoy the pictures. By the way, Heather's Aunt Mary submitted these pictures to Chicago Yoga magazine and they thought they were adorable and were going to try and publish them in their next issue - Wow that would be cool.

6 month pictures - Which one do you like?

2007-02-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

These are Emma's 6 month pictures that we had taken at JC Penney. Man, it was hard to choose which poses to order. We could have easily spent hundreds of dollars on pictures, but we didn't. Leave a comment on which one is your favorite.

6 months old - and crawling

2007-01-29T07:08:00.000-08:00

Emma turned 6 months old on January 21, and on January 23 she started crawling. She has been using rolling as her primary means of transportation up to this point, but now she is officially crawling. This is really going to force us to make some changes around the house.

This is a picture from Christmas that our friend Bipin photoshopped by adding the Tinkerbell. Isn't it adorable? Thanks Bipin.

This is a sideboard table in our dining room that I finally finished building. I started working on it about a year ago, but then I began remodeling the house to ge ready for Emma so this sideboard project was put on hold. Heather and I saw a piece of funiture similar to this for sale, but I decided it would be cheaper, and better quality, if I built it myself. We are very happy with the results.

Christmas 2006

2007-01-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year with Emma. It was a busy time as we traversed the Chicagoland area for Christmas parties. We were so blessed by all the gifts for us and Emma this year. Emma actually got into opening presents this year - mostly by trying to eat the wrapping paper. Here are a few pictures from our various christmas events

Christmas Card Pictures

2006-12-15T10:46:00.000-08:00

These were the finalist in the 50+ pictures we took of Emma for our Christmas card this year.
Which one would you choose? We chose the one where she is sitting with the big smile on her face. Isn't it adorable? We also liked the naked one with the hat and the sneaky look on her face. Perfect timing snapping that picture. Leave a comment on which one is your favorite.

Thanksgiving 2006

2006-12-15T10:32:00.000-08:00

I know it's a little late for a post from Thanksgiving, but better late than never. We had Thanksgiving at my sister and brother-in-law's house, Jen and Chad, this year. It was fun visiting with all the fam & a bunch of wild kids.

Emma's Dedication

2006-12-07T09:40:00.000-08:00

We had the privilege to have a baby dedication at our church on November 19 and dedicate Emma back to God, for he has blessed us by entrusting her to us to raise her the way he wants us to. We were so blessed by all the family and friends that joined us on this wonderful day. Thanks to everyone.

First Family Vacation

2006-11-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

Heather and I took Emma with on out first family vacation. We went up to Lake Geneva, WI on November 9 for a long weekend getaway. We had such a great time, and had some beautiful weather to enjoy walking outside by the lake and shopping (Heather's favorite). Emma had her first swimming experience in the hotel's indoor pool and enjoyed that. I found out that a vacation with a baby is much different than without. Emma didn't know we were on vacation and supposed to sleep in and relax all weekend. Oh well, it was a great time anyway

Emma's first Halloween

2006-11-06T13:49:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of Emma getting ready for Halloween. We set Emma on the porch inside the pumpkin in hopes people would come to our house and give us candy instead of asking us for candy. HAHAHA. I love the picture of Heather and Emma with their hats on. I love my 2 girls soooo much. Aren't they beatuful? Yes of course they are.

It has been so long

2006-11-01T11:55:00.000-08:00

I have not posted to this blog in a VERY long time. I am going to try and do this more faithfully as we would now like to share pictures of our new family so you will be able to see our new baby Emma grow. Here are some photos starting when Emma was born on July 21, 2006.

The First Doctor's Appointment

2006-01-12T10:42:00.000-08:00

Heather finally had her first appointment with the doctor on December 27th. Everything went well, and we got to hear the heartbeat of the baby. I think the baby may be a little hyper with heartbeat of 170 bpm. Heather was 11 weeks along at the time of her appoinment, and hearing the heartbeat really confirmed what we already knew, but it makes it feel more "official". We are so excited about having this new addition to our family.
Some other news, I will be starting a new job on Jan. 23rd. I will be working for Vandernoord Homes in Schererville, IN as a construction estimator. I am looking forward to starting at Vandernoord, and also looking forward to the salary increase!! Well, that's all for now.

A BABY!!

2005-12-20T11:13:00.001-08:00

Heather was supposed to have her first doctor's appointment today, but it got cancelled because her doctor was sick. We were disappointed, but she re-scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 22nd. Going to the doctor will really make it feal official that Heather is pregnant (wow that sounds weird). We are so excited and so blessed to have the opportunity to bring a baby into this world.
Further updates will come as the pregnancy progresses.