My momma, starting David young, just like us! Looks like he loves to read! :)
Category: family
Long time no blog. Time to get back on track!
This past Saturday, we arrived home from a week in Cancun. We were celebrating Anna (younger sister)’s 30th birthday so we brought her along for the first half of the trip. We had a great time! Lots of relaxing, in fact so much relaxing, we neglected to take many pictures. How ridiculous, right! Here’s what we have. We snapped this shot as Anna was headed to the airport. Behind us is one of several humongous infinity pools at the resort.
We took these at the outdoor restaurant on the beach.
Hard to tell how cool it was, but it was pretty great!
We stayed at the Omni Cancun Hotel and Villas. Since I’m giving them a free plug, I thought I’d include some of their promotional photos, to make up for our lack of documentation. Here is an aerial shot of the grounds:
A heated swim-up bar:
Sunset view of the hotel from one of the infinity pools:
We had great weather while Anna was with us. We spent a lot of time on the beach, ate as much as we could, and caught up on our rest. Pretty much our idea of the perfect vacation!
I was just remembering today how we commemorated our last Christmas in California with Jess and Paul. We stayed with them at their home (aka church office) for the last couple of weeks before we moved in February, 2007. Their Christmas tree had been out on the porch for a month and half, getting completely dried out and brittle. Then one night, I realized there was a purpose …
The Last Bonfire … Good times!
PS: Don’t try this at home!
A interesting combination of families have begun to fill our lives. This past weekend, for example, we were visited by several families — both ours and others.
Lori’s dad dropped her mom off on Friday so she could spend another weekend with her new grandbaby while he attended a conference at A&M.
On Saturday, we met our friend Jason’s family. Jason and Brandon have been best friends since they were kids, which makes Jason’s family sort of like Brandon’s second family, which I suppose ties them to us in some way now, too! Here’s a photo of Jason & Rachael, with Jason’s parents and sister. (Jason & Rachael are the parents of Sam, our favorite over-sized doggie.)
David came to spend the night on Saturday, which is always a treat. Sunday night, he went to his Gramma and Grampa’s, his favorite place to take a bath, as you can see!
Sunday night, Brandon’s mom arrived with her parents, so Caden could meet his ‘great’ grandparents for the first time.
We’ve come to consider Brandon & Lori part of our family, and it’s been really sweet to get to know their families, as they get to know ours. Fortunately, there’s usually a vacancy at the Matthew B&B, so any and all are welcome! Just be sure to book your reservation in advance.
Well, in case you haven’t heard by now, Caden Cole Phifer has officially joined our family! Caden was born (to our housemates) on August 22. He’s just a precious little boy and we are really having fun having him here.
I had the honor of being with Lori in the delivery room until she was finally wisked away for an emergency c-section. Turns out, little Caden had his cord wrapped around his foot, and the poor guy just wasn’t going anywhere. But he arrived healthy and happy, and came home a few days later.
We’ve had a lot of guests since Caden’s arrival! Lori’s mom came to stay for the first week, and her dad and brother joined us for a night as well.
Brandon’s mom took over after that, and we all appreciated all the extra help the mamas gave!
We’ve all settled into the new routine – well, it’s easy for us since we can’t hear a peep from the baby when they’re upstairs! But we love having Caden here. David gets to use the downstairs nursery for now since Caden is sleeping upstairs for awhile. We’re like one big happy family, and having a blast! (Between naps, that is.)
The last few months have been such an unforgettable time. Such emotion, such joy, it’s hard to describe. Being a part of Jess’ delivery in May was probably the most amazing experience of my life. I’ve yet to write about it, since I inevitably find words inadequate in each attempt. But each little moment is forever embedded in my memory … waiting in anticipation with my family, helping Jess through the contractions and labor, seeing David for the first time, watching Jess and Paul instantly transform into loving, devoted parents, and seeing my parents forever changed by the birth of their beloved grandson.
We’ve enjoyed each tiny milestone with little David, who’s now three months old!
Jess brings him here every weekend and we all take turns cuddling and loving him. It’s wonderful! Michael and I had our first overnight duty a couple of weeks ago and I was so excited I couldn’t sleep! Little David slept great, however! We’re now preparing for Jess to go back to work part time, which means we’ll be on more David duty which we’re thrilled about! (Well Michael would be more thrilled if he could actually wake up!!)
One of these days I’ll get around to uploading the hundreds of pictures we’ve all been collecting. Check out my parents album now, though, for ongoing pics.
I’m loving watching David’s personality develop. Like his Auntie, he certainly says what he means and means what he says. Just ask his glow worm.
Yours for only $9.99 plus shipping. (The exercise video, not the baby)
Can’t tell you how much we love having Jess & David up here every weekend! It’s non-stop entertainment and joy. He’s just precious! He’s doing well, just turned 2 months old!
For more videos, check out Paul’s YouTube channel.
When you attempt to keep a blog, sometimes you feel like your life is so boring you really don’t have anything to blog about. At times, this is true for me. But currently, we have so much going on I can’t even keep up with it in my mind much less take the time to blog about it!
I guess the biggest news is the unique way our family is expanding. Our newest nephew, David, is 6 weeks old already!
I think that’s pretty much the cutest belly button ever! We’ve loved every second we’ve spent with him and look forward to more and more. He’s just precious! Until I get around to posting new pics, you can check him out at PaulJess.com.
So, now we’ve got our own new baby, whom we’ve named Tiki. We’re not sure how old she is, we think between 6 mo-1 year.
Our friends, Brandon & Lori, found her roaming the streets near their home in Bastrop. She was wearing a collar but no tags. They posted flyers and we called the shelter regularly. No one claimed her, so, poor us, we had to adopt her! She’s been a wonderful addition to the family and we LOVE having her here! Bella is glad to have a new friend.
With our brood now expanding, we’ve decided to add a few more. Brandon & Lori, who found Tiki, have just moved in with us for a few months to save money while they prepare for the arrival of their first baby boy (Caden) in August. Brandon is the Associate / Youth Pastor at our church, River Valley Bastrop. They’ll probably be with us for about 8 months to a year. We turned the upstairs music room into sort of a studio apartment for them and it’s working out great so far.
They have a furry son, Cooper, who has happily joined our pack as well. He and Tiki are quickly becoming best buddies.
We just LOVE having everyone around. Nothing like a house full of love. We can’t wait ’til the baby arrives. We have all this extra space until we can start our own family, so we’re thrilled to use it and to get to share this experience with our new friends. We’ll be babysitting David a lot here soon so we’ll be fully equipped on the baby front.
Jess and Paul came and stayed with us last week and brought David and their doggy Chester. Talk about a FULL HOUSE! Somehow, we make it all work and it’s just really fun. Never a dull moment around here any more. I wouldn’t have it any other way!
So, some very surprising news … Jess delivered baby David last night at 5:02 pm. He’s almost 4 weeks early!
Jess’ water broke yesterday morning at 6:30am. They made it to the hospital shortly after, and Michael and I arrived around 10:30. Labor contractions started around 1pm. The rest of the family arrived during the afternoon. Pushing began around 3:45 (I think!) David came into the world at 5:02. He’s 6 lbs 15.4 oz and 18″ long! A very big boy for only 36 weeks. Jess did an amazing job, was very strong and we’re really proud of her!
David came out with a slight fever and high white blood cell count. He’s had a little trouble coordinating his eating, breathing and swallowing all at the same time, so they’re keeping him in the NICU for a couple of days to monitor him. The fever is gone and all looks good. His difficulties are expected due to his prematurity, so it’s nothing to worry too much about, but I’m sure they all would appreciate your prayers!
Here’s David with Grandma this morning. Perfection!
Michael’s headed down to Mexico today with a group from our church and a local mission team. Please keep him in your prayers! He’ll be back Saturday night. I’m moderately concerned for their safety but believe everything will turn out alright.
MichaelandSharon.com 