Merry Christmas from our Family to Yours

It's be a good year - what can we say? We are totally blessed. This season we are thankful for all the gifts that God pours out - family, friends, and most importantly our savior. We pray your Christmas is filled with joy and peace and that the New Year brings love beyond measure.

Time flies when you're having fun...

And that's exactly what we're doing... Having fun! Adriana is beginning to get a bit more generous with night time sleep which allows for more daytime fun. (ie. A much more energetic mom and dad!) Micaiah had her first opportunity to dabble in the fine art of finger painting and loved it. That's all she wants to do now. That and hang out with friends. We are regularly asked if friends are coming over and asks for them by name. Much to her dismay they are not coming more often than they are. Adriana is gracing us with the sweet sounds of little coos and precious first smiles. The rewards for cleaning poopy diapers and waking earlier than desired. We are keeping more than busy. Enjoy a few new pics...

Another Peek

Here's another quick peek for you into life with our new family of four. Adriana is officially 4 weeks old - wow! - and Micaiah still loves her - double wow! Fewer words mean more pictures. Enjoy!

1. Around the house
2. Adriana's baptism - April 25
3. Splash time!

Two Weeks and Counting

Well, we've survived the first two weeks with our two beautiful girls. With the help of many a family member that is! We were blessed to have both Mamaws come stay with us for a bit to lend a helping hand. Combine two Mamaws, one Papa and an Aunt Nora and you get too much fun! At least that was Micaiah's point of view. Talk about spoiled. She's spent this week wondering where all the fun went!

Just wanted to take some time to show you what we've been up to. I've split the pictures up into a couple of different slide shows for you.
1. Around the house
2. A day out with Daddy
3. Traipsing though the bluebonnets

Enjoy!

Let's Rewind

Just wanted to take a few moments to update you on the "before" activities...

On Good Friday we did some Easter egg dying - FUN! Such a big girl. She got all decked out in Mommy's apron, chose the color of each egg and put the stickers on, too. She says she loves eggs. If only she would actually eat them!

Easter Saturday marked our last trip to the beach as a family of three. Micaiah LOVED the beach. I think she could have sat digging in the sand all day. She made castles and sea animals, dug holes and even took a little dip in the gulf water. Brrr! To top it all off we rode the ferry to and from the Bolivar Peninsula. Now that was a hit! No pictures of our boat ride, but trust me, she wanted to go again!

Easter Sunday held its own little egg hunt. Aunt Nora hid the eggs we dyed in the alley and Micaiah hunted away. It took her a minute to understand the point, but she was into it by the end. We found them all!

It was a perfect bookend to a wonderful two plus years as a family of three. They are years I will always treasure. Years I am sad to leave behind. Irreplaceable in so many ways. Yet something tells me the "after" holds more than my mind could possibly grasp.

Here's to the "before"...

Adriana Faith

Well, she arrived with speed. We all arrived at the hospital around 5.30am and she was born at 6.53am. Needless to say, we have a little girl with energy [well, now we have two]. Here are some pictures of day 1:

The land of the living...

If only for the moment!

The last months have been jam packed with fun, excitement and preparing for impending change. We've seen the holidays come and go, spent time with family and friends, celebrated Micaiah's 2nd birthday, and welcomed Erin's sister to the land of Houston. Micaiah's first year scrapbook is completed - a monumental task it seemed, but one we are very pleased with. If you haven't heard, the rumors are true... we're expecting baby #2 in early April. This means we're in the midst of readying the house for even more fun and excitement!

Before life gets even further out of control, we'd like to take a few moments to share some pictures from the last few months. It's a random selection and yes, some of them are a tad outdated, but they are life in the West household. We'll be sure to let you know when baby #2 comes and share all the joy that new life stage brings.

Until then, enjoy!

It's About Time!!!

I can hear the exclamations of shock ringing out around the world... "The Wests finally updated their blog!!!" It's been just that long. I could go into the whys and why nots, but who really cares. Let's get to the good stuff!

In July Micaiah and I spent some blessed time in St. Louis with all sorts of extended family. It was a blast! Micaiah got to indulge in the vast array of wonderful exciting opportunities the good old STL has to offer. While there we managed to pack in the Zoo - twice, Grant's Farm, the Magic House, the Transportation Museum, Trout Lodge, the park - a gazillion times with a variety friends and family, and Ted Drewes - of course! With so many family members there to share in the fun, pictures from our time are scattered accross multiple cameras. I'll share a few of mine below...

Since then it's been all sorts of craziness. The little lady has definitely entered into language explosion. Indulge me for a moment and let me say that at her 18 month appointment we were told she had the vocabulary of a two year old. Yikes! We have a talker on our hands and I LOVE it! L. O. V. E. it! What a blessing it is to be able to understand - most of the time - what your child needs or wants. I've attached a slideshow below of some photos from everyday life over the past few months. Hope you enjoy our fun as much as we do!

It's Raining It's Pouring

Ahhhh. The sweet relief of a summer rain storm. It's been over a month since we last saw rain here in H-town and we're in dire need of it. There was much rejoicing this morning when it finally came.

It rained steadily throughout the morning and Micaiah came prepared. Just after finishing breakfast, she ran to her toys and snagged Noah's Ark off the shelf. She proceeded to place the ark on the window sill, sit on her little chair, and watch the rain. She was ready... are you?

A "Grand" Month

What?!? No post for June? That's because we were too busy having fun with the grandparents. Grandma and Grandpa West visited early in the month while Grandma Witbrodt dropped in later in June. Micaiah had a blast with them all and had a bit of a let down when all her undivided attention left. Here's a few photos of her time with the "Grands"...





Micaiah seems to be mastering new words and sounds every day. It's been so much for to listen to her little vocabulary grow! Here's a peek into Micaiah's "little dictionary"...

Words: hi, bye-bye, turtle, car, ball, baby, yes, no, all done, towel, ma, da, toes, two-three-wee, eye, the end, amen, yea, teddy, Elmo, uh-oh

Sounds: elephant, sheep, rooster, cow, horse, car, choo-choo, fish, hamster, owl, wolf, goose, cat, vroom, beep beep

Memorial Day Weekend

Let's just say we had some awesome water fun...

THE Picture

This is the only picture I have from my best friend's wedding. This is the only picture I needed from my best friend's wedding. Ask her. She'll tell you. We have a small collection. This is chapter two:

Erin Christine West and Kari Michelle JOHNSON (hooray!)



Who am I kidding? HOOOOOORAAAAYY!!!!! Much love to the Johnsons! :)

BLAH!!!

That about sums up the day. It's one o'clock in the afternoon but it feels like night. The rain has been pummeling our house since yesterday evening. I miss the sun. We all do.

The first half of the week was gorgeous. Simply beautiful. I needed to remember. And because I needed to remember, you get to reap the benefits. Here's a glimpse into the early part of the week. The sunny, 70 degree filled, humidity free part. I miss it!