Memorial Day (Decoration Day)

I am slow but I am not totally late. The original Memorial Day was the 30th of May. It began after the Civil War. And with all that went on this weekend I did take sometime to reflect on the service of those in the military. Sometimes you think of other people serving or that is the army a blob of unknown people. But when I took a minute to think the number serving or have served is high. Both my grandfathers, grandma Lorna (nurse in WW2), my brother and my cousin Seth, these are only the immediate family. If I consider the extended family of second cousins, great uncles, etc. there are many. I encourage you to consider those who have served and are serving and say thank you. I am not sure that I could but I appreciate the freedom they protect. THANK YOU! Our weekend included visits from friends and family alike. This is Chris with his youngest Hannah. They took time out of their holiday to drive up to Pennsylvania. Thanks.
This is all three kids together. (Aaron, Ryan, and Hannah)
Aaron meets his great grandpa Graffius for the first time. Yes there was ice cream but it wasn't the Meadows.
We finally got to use our deck furniture. We had a picnic that included friends and family.
Tuesday was a big day for me. We left Aaron for the day with Abuela(this was a first). It made shopping easier but it did feel a little weird. Perry and I do clothing and shoe shopping once a year and this was the day. Aaron did great and I did fine. It was a nice day with my hubby.

Amanda's New Hair Cut

Before... After...This is a self portrait so it is only so so, but you get the drift It is shoulder length, layered and I have a little bit of a bang.

You may have noticed that my hair was getting pretty long. When it is long 95% of the time it is up. I had decided that when Aaron came I would get it cut. So after a 1 year plus with one trim in the middle, today was the big day. I went to the local votech. Yes this may sound strange but it is a great place to get a hair cut. Yes they are students but they are under teachers and so they want to do a good job; they get graded. At our votech they do hair cuts, perms, pedicures and manicures. Not only do they do a great job but my wash, haircut and style was only 6 dollars. The only drawback is that the students are sometimes slow because they want to do it right. The teacher cut my hair and the student a first year student dried and curled it. It took 2 hours. It may not look like it but it is wash and wear. I also gave them free range but you don't have too. By the way the votech also does state car inspections. You might want to check out your area votech or community college you might just find a good deal.

Everyday life

How life has changed. This is a day in my life with Aaron

5:30AM Aaron wakes up and wants a bottle

7:00AM Breakfast

9:00AM Aaron has nap...I try to get stuff done

9:45 AM Nap is over

10:00AM Aaron Bath

12:00PM Lunch

2:00PM Aaron nap

2:45PM Bottle

3:00PM Maybe second nap for Aaron

5:00PM Feed Aaron

7:20 PM Perry home dinner sometimes on

8:00-9:00PM Put Aaron to bed

9:30PM Go to sleep myself

Doesn't seem like a lot to the outside world but when the day is done I am tired and exhausted.

Odds and Ends

It has been a good week. I am finding a routine that works for both Aaron and me. Aaron crawled on Wednesday. He also has gotten two teeth. He loves to go for walks in the stroller. He prefers to be outside but it has been too cold. David and Kim hooked us up in the long sleeved clothes department. We had our first official pictures taken. The fellow who was to take them had a family emergency so we went to plan B...Walmart.

Of importance today is Perry and my anniversary. We have been married six years. I am thankful daily that I waited for the right man. I am thankful God gave me the perfect man for me. I am reminded daily of his thoughtfulness especially as we figure out this parent thing. He has given me rests and tolerated a crazy house. He looks for ways to be helpful. Thanks I Love you.

Mother's Day

David had a brillant idea to cook for the men to cook for the family for dinner. So there was grilling, macaroni salad, guacamole(one of Aaron's favorite foods) and too much food in general. Dad had an aweful lot of comments for just being responisble for the beans.
Perry was the official griller.
The rest of us played with the babies. The final result was good food and fun.

Baby Blessing

This past Sabbath we had a baby blessing which is a prayer for a child or baby to grow physically and spiritually. To protect them till they cam make a decision for Christ and that the parents can help to guide them in that direction. There were two.
Abigail Smith who is number 6 in their family... aren't you jealous of all her hair.
And Aaron who is our first. I am behind Perry because Aaron thinks he should be held by mommy if he see her. Flattering for me not good for pastors trying to pray.

Some Family Pictures

This year I have a new understanding of what it means to be a mother. I now know what it is like not to sleep at night and to finally get to sleep at night. I love to see Aaron learn new things. I appreciate that 95% of the time he is a happy baby. I am thankful to friends and family that give me a few minutes to take a break and just be...like grandpop taking Aaron to the grocery store or abuela coming over after I have had a long night and entertaining Aaron when I am tired and weepy. Thanks to Grandpa and Mimi and Grandma Barbee for letting me go out to dinner with the youth. Thank you all moms for listening to new moms and when ask giving direction.

More Guatemala Pictures

These are pictures are from the zoo. This is in Guatemala City a very nice zoo.


This is our translator Luisa. She was great she took us to the store and to the zoo. She let us communicate more easily with the foster family.
This is a white peacock. I had never seen one before.

We are adjusting to life as a parent. Aaron is serious considering crawling. He is generally happy and doing well. He is eating everything under the sun...including a pretzel. He has started to clap for us...He may of done this with the foster family but this is a first here.

We Interupt this Broadcast

I thought I would give you a break from our regularly scheduled broadcast of Aaron shots. Saturday night we took our youth and another small youth group out for a dress up dinner. We were supposed to go to Outback but due to the fact that there was a prom(unknown to us) they would not take any large parties call ahead and it was a 2 hour wait. We went to plan B...Olive Garden. We had some braver eaters than others. We had 4 that had pizza.
Afterwards we came back and had ice cream sundaes and watched the Ultimate Gift. If you get a chance it definitely worth renting the youth - laughed, cried and said they enjoyed it.
This picture doesn't show it well but I have just been given a black eye at youth. The first football of the spring and I tried to prevent my husband from rushing the quarterback forgetting he is a 100 pounds heavier and a foot taller. I successfully took an elbow to the face. Left side. It is now a pretty purple.
This didn't keep us from having bible study thank you parents for watching Aaron.

Early Days in Guatemala

Foster Family

Adjusting

I am adjusting to motherhood and Aaron is adjusting to a whole new environment. He has done a wonderful job. When he first came he would only allow me to hold him and was afraid I suspect that this mom might go away too. He had an amazing foster mom and family that loved him thoroughly. As the week progressed he became more willing to be held by others and I was even able to go to quilting class while Perry watched him and Grandpop(Don) put him down to sleep. We are still working on a sleep schedule but once again we are making progress. He has had his first doctors appointment. He did very well but didn't like the shots of course...He has a nice red bump from one which they say is supposed to happen. He has been to the hospital twice to see all the people and Ickes Drugstore. He got to celebrate great grandfather's(Papa) 83rd birthday at the Creekside. May I say that he did great and abuela's(Linda) portable high chair is wonderful. I am going to get one. It works even better than the stroller. Other big news includes that fact Grandpa(Perry Sr) and Mimi(Jean) and Uncle Jonathan and great grandma Barbee will all be up this weekend. I have changed the sheets and partially cleaned the bathrooms and did some reading up(for you none PA people this putting things in order but not serious house cleaning). Overall things are going pretty good he loves music and is getting better at sitting for books to be read he is up to two at a time. He crawls backwards. He like to walk with you holding his hands. He can grab things like string and ribbon. He is chewing everything in site and is working on having some lower teeth. Well that is the week in a nut shell.