A great week at home...

We had a wonderful week together as a family this past week! Lauchlin was able to have off all week to help with the adjustment to 2 kids. We kept saying to each other 'wierd, we are a family of four'. It was neat to see he and Jude do some more bonding and Jude really started going to Lauchlin for hugs and help more than me. That was neat to see.Priscila didn't like her first bath very much but does look alot more fresh. She goes back to the doctor tomorrow.

Here she is sunbathing to get rid of any jaundice she has. She is a 'big' baby but still so small!

What a little princess! I really am enjoying having a girl and having so much pink around!

Thought you might like to see some more pictures of her, we love her!!

Affectionately,

Mackenzi
(for the family)

Priscila is here...

Priscila Mae Groff

January 23, 2009

9 lbs. 7 oz.

21 1/2 inches

We arrived at the hospital at 5am for the induction. Priscila's due date was January 22nd but she seemed to be content to stay where she was, Momma was not! So, I got all settled in and started receiving the pitocin and began having contractions. I was able to get an epidural but they had to put it in twice because it hit a vein the first time. That was not fun! However, it did work eventually and very well. I wasn't even able to feel my contractions at all. At 8 am the doctor came in and broke my water and I was 2cm dialated. By 10am I was 6cm dialated and we started playing a game of cards. The doctor came in at 10:45am and said that I was 9 1/2 cm dialated and it was time to start pushing. We were caught off guard because we thought it would be a while. But, the nurse got me started pushing once and saw the head. So, she had me stop and got the doctor right away. Priscila literally arrived like 5 minutes later. Unfortunately, the doctor saw that the cord was wrapped around her neck and had to quickly cut the cord and get her to the baby nurse to get her breathing. She was fine but this meant Lauchlin couldn't cut the cord. We are grateful though for a smooth and easy delivery!I feel pretty good and Priscila is thriving. She is eating well and seems to just be very content.

We waited to have Jude come in to see his sister until the next morning and he was enthralled by her. I had thought that he would just pick at her and get really excited around her. But, he was very quiet and gentle with her. It seemed to some degree that he recognized that this was the baby Momma was talking about for months.It is really hard to believe that we are now a family of four. We just got home and are settling in.

Here we are for the first time. The Groffs.

Priscila's Daddy is pretty into her as well! She seems to really like when he sings to her.

Here she is for one last time before we go. Like the bow? We thought she looked pretty girly with it!!

Well, better go rest! Again, we are grateful to God for our 2 children and the wonderful gifts they are to us!!

Much love and affection,

Mackenzi (Lauchlin, Jude and Priscila)

Still waiting...

Okay, so I have definitely been slacking on my blogging because my goal is 1-2 blogs a week. You can see that isn't happening. I think it is recently because I have been trying to get EVERYTHING ready for Priscila to come. Seriously, I have been obsessive about thinking up things that I don't want to have to do in the next 6 months. Now, I am so big and uncomfortable that I can't/won't do much. (Now you think I will put a picture of myself following this paragraph. Ha! I probably wouldn't fit on your computer screen! So, you will just have to use your imagination.)

I have made all the bedding for Prisca's room, cleaned things that I haven't normally, gotten birth anouncements as ready as possible, washed floors, organized closets etc. Definitely been doing the nesting thing. Right now I am shouting 'MY NEST IS READY! Come on already!' Truthfully, I have really dug my own hole in this situation. With my pregnancy with Jude, I set in my mind that I wouldn't go early and I should just be peaceful until my due date. Going a week early then was a treat. This time however, I somehow convinced myself that I would definitely go early and probably weeks early. Not so much...thus my tremendous impatience. The other issue though is that my back is in pain along with pretty much the rest of my body. Hmmm, carrying around a 30 lb. one year old probably has not helped that. Honestly, I can't really do it anymore and I make him crawl to where we are going in the house. Frankly he needs to have to get places himself because as of now he is still not walking. Luckily over the weekend and today he has begun starting to take a few steps in a row. I probably would too if I had to get everywhere on my hands and knees.
Well, if I don't go by Thursday my due date, I am scheduled for an induction at 5am on Friday. So, next time this week, Priscila will be out in the world. Hopefully, my next post will include delivery info and pictures!!

Tata for now,
Mackenzi :)

Happy New Year with new things to come...

Merry Christmas as well! Sorry for my lapse in blogging. Things got a little busy upon our return from PA after my Dad's death. Just now feeling like I am catching up on the things that I want to have done before Priscila is born. Alot of these pictures are from Christmas...

Nonna and Uncle Graham came for 5 days over Christmas and Nonna got lots of play and snuggling done with Jude. Jude slept really well while they were here!

Uncle Graham said that he was still 'thinking about' the idea of having children and I think spending time with Jude helped him see the amount of work involved in parenting. He pointed out too that this is just the beginning! Needless to say, Jude loved spending time with him and his computer buttons! :)

Jude has gotten how to open gifts and certianly how to play with them once they are open. So, even this Christmas was fun for him.

Lauchlin made his mom's yummy spaghetti for our nontraditional Christmas dinner.

Lauchlin celebrated his 35th birthday on December 26th. Happy Birthday Lauchlin!!

Lastly, we are looking at 16 days until Priscila is due. Mommy is ready to get this baby born!! We have had a few scares and yesterday motivated us to actually pack our hospital bags!!

We will keep you updated on her birth...hope you had a great Christmas and New Years!!

Affectionately,

Mackenzi (and family)

My Dad went to be with Jesus...

Fred E. Wert

It is still pretty difficult for me to comprehend that my Dad is with Jesus right now and has been for 2 weeks already. I was there when he died and praise God he recognized me, Lauchlin and smiled and waved at little Jude. He shouldn't have been able to do those things because he had been declared brain dead a couple hours earlier after 20+ minutes of CPR. Little did he or any of us know that his drive to the hospital the Thursday before would be beginning of the end of his life. He was initially diagnosed with walking pnemonia 4 weeks earlier but over some time, heart stopping and testing at the hospital it was soon discovered that he had congenital heart disease that had been eating away at his heart for the past few years and there wasn't much left. His few days at the hospital included his heart stopping and a number of sequences of CPR, ventilator etc. We thought he was going to die a number of times and miraculously he would wake up and be very alert. God was merciful in allowing us to get a flight out of Memphis last minute with no delays that got us there just as my family was running down the hall because my Dad's heart was going into arrest again and this time he had said he didn't want any intervention. So, I held his hand as he struggled for breath and his heart beat it's last. Lauchlin and I agreed that his dying was so real and connected to eternity that it was almost hard to comprehend that one minute he was there with us and the next with Jesus.

As we looked back over the last year in which the doctors' were amazed that he hadn't been struggling physically during and saw the mercy of God. Not only did we not know to worry about him during significant events in all of us kids's lives, he also wasn't suffering or struggling. He was able to welcome his first grandchild into the world...

Walk his youngest daughter down the aisle at her wedding... ...and my brother and his business partners sold their business in a very significant transaction. Dad was there to celebrate. I just think how distracting or even awful it would have been to have dad suffering or even have a heartattack at one of these events. Thank you Lord for your mercy.

I wanted to share some things that I will really miss about my Dad...

• The way that he would call me and say 'Hey Kenny, how are you doing?' (Kenny was his nickname for me since I was little. He had started calling Jude, 'Juder'. So he would add on 'How's my little Juder and Lauchlin doing?')
• His love for anything golf, football or coffee related. Especially Penn State. Lauchlin said he will miss on our visits Dad coming out of the kitchen saying 'Lauchlin, how about some coffee.' with a big grin on his face (this could happen any time of the day not just morning!)
• His passion for lost and hurting people. His willingness to be a minority politically in his area and community because of these beliefs.
• His great ability to teach and communicate God's word.
• His goofy sayings like 'What the hun!' 'Heaven's to murgitroid.'
• His whistling through his teeth which you could hear at any time. That's how I would track him in a store.
• His laughing so hard watching 'Home Alone' when the little kid is getting the robbers. He would start crying he laughed so hard.
• Seeing him reading his Bible and/or commentary early in the morning.

Those are just a few...I am grateful that we had some special time with him after Jude was born and that he got to meet Jude at all!

The viewing and funeral were very honoring to Dad and below are a few special things that people did. We gave a bunch of pictures and photo albums to my mom's dear friend Yvonne who put together a beautiful display for people to look at when they entered the church lobby.

Also, my Dad used to say 'What the hun!' alot in surprise or emphasis to a sentence and often would say to people 'If I were any better I'd....' and list off a few things that identified the person's situation in life. So, someone put this up on the church's billboard for my Dad. He was well loved at our home church!!

Mostly, I guess I wanted to in a small way honor my Dad with this blog...

I will miss you Dad in all sorts of ways and don't even comprehend all of them yet. I am SO glad that you knew Jesus before you died and now know Him fully. I am so glad that you got to meet Jude but feel pretty sad that you never got to experience him looking up at you with his arms up wanting you to pick him up. I'm also sad that you won't ever meet Priscila in this life. Thank you for being my Dad.

I love you,

Mackenzi

Jude is 1 year old!!

Jude is 1 year old as of November 4, 2008. It is so hard to believe how he has grown and how much our love and enjoyment of him has grown. Here he is as a newborn...
Here he is today...

We had a small birthday party for him this weekend and it went over quite well with him. Between cake and gifts, he was having a blast. It continues to amaze me how much of a people person he is. He just seems so content when people are around.

We sang 'Happy Birthday' to him, he seemed confused but not so confused about what he wanted to do with the cake...

At first the texture of the icing was odd to him but then not so much!

Just get it in there as quick as you can!

He got some fun toys as well as great books and cds.

The grownups there enjoyed some chili and later smores on our back porch with some fires in our fire pits. (Jude went to bed so mommy and daddy could enjoy some grownup time.) The weather was perfect with just enough nip in the air for a fire to be very cozy.

Okay, so here is Priscila growning. I am currently 29 1/2 weeks pregnant. Now going to the doctor every 2 weeks, which I can't believe it is time for that already. We are starting to get the nursery set up and decorated. The goal is to have it done by Thanksgiving my family comes to visit.
But, for now, here we are!!

Much love and affection,

Mackenzi for the gang

Trick or Tweet?

Here is Jude in his Halloween costume! Okay, so we only went to one house... Alan and Pam's but he still look ridiculously cute in our opinion!

We enjoyed beef vegetable soup and yummy cornbread at the May household, put Jude down for bed and then watched scary movies with zombies in them.

I don't usually watch scary movies because I end up having nightmares but it seemed appropriate...kind of! :) We had a lot of fun just hanging out though.

This week is Jude's 1st birthday so I will be posting soon again but wanted to share pictures of our little bird.

Happy Halloween!

Mackenzi (and gang)