Newborn Photoshoot

I know Brett is a month old now, but we weren't able to do a real newborn photo shoot because he spent the first 2 1/2 weeks of his life in the hospital. I wanted some pictures before he got any bigger, and since I didn't want to pay the price a professional photographer would charge, I tried my hand at it myself. These are what I ended up with.

And a few edited ones...

Father's Day

We didn't plan to actually be celebrating Father's Day in the true sense this year at our house, but wouldn't have it any other way now! 

This guy is the best Daddy ever!! He is so gentle, sweet, and loving with our tiny little Brett, and takes advantage of every opportunity he has to hold and touch him. 

We spent Father's Day afternoon with our little man, and I was even able to feed him his bottle. He was sleeping peacefully when we got there and continued to do so until it was time for his next feeding. Doesn't he look so peaceful? 

A special little card for Matt was taped to Brett's isolette when we got there in honor of  Father's Day. One of the nurses makes them for all the NICU baby parents on special occasions. 

Those tiny little footprints are SO adorable!!! This is one of those cards that will get saved in our keepsake box. It was so sweet of the nurse to take time out of her busy schedule to do that for us. 

Baby Brett is doing well, and we thank each one for your prayers. We really appreciate them! 

Day Off

Matt has been working out straight all week trying to get the deck built for us. Even though he has been enjoying the change of work from selling cars, we really couldn't call this week off a vacation because he has been so busy. He decided that he would fix that by not working on the deck at all yesterday, and just having a relaxing day together.
 It was a warm summer day, and we had already decided the night before that we wanted to go on a picnic for lunch on Friday, so we headed out around 11:00 to Acadia National Park to have a picnic on the sand beach there. We stopped in Ellsworth on the way and picked up supplies for a clothesline as well as sandwiches for our picnic. As usual the park was gorgeous, and I enjoyed sinking my toes into the warm sand on the beach immensely. There is just something about a sand beach that is so much more appealing to me than a rocky one.

After we finished lunch, we headed down to the water and I stuck my toes in to rinse off the sand that had stuck to my feet and legs. The cool water felt so good on such a warm day!

We were both getting thirsty, so we headed back to the car to get our drinks that we had left, and we headed to downtown Bar Harbor to do some sightseeing/
window shopping. Matt took me to our favorite ice cream shop there, and bought a cup of creamy ice cream for both of us to enjoy while we wandered around. We ended up going down to the pier and just relaxing on a park bench to watch the boat activity in the harbor.

Somebody's private yacht was in port and we watched as two guys meticulously cleaned all of the chrome, dark wood, and such that the boat was trimmed with. I couldn't get over how HUGE this boat was or how much it must cost to own something like that!! I told Matt that someday we would have one to dock next to this one. *wink*

A cruise ship was also in. This picture doesn't do it justice to show how gigantic it really was!! We could actually see this boat when we were driving around Acadia National Park.
When we were done our ice cream, our adventures took us into many little shops looking at jewelry and whatever took our fancy until we had worked our way back to the car.

Bar Harbor was the perfect place to spend a relaxing day off. It is always so beautiful there, and I could spend days just wandering through all the quaint little shops. Having a whole afternoon to enjoy with Matt was amazing! I've gotten so spoiled with having him home all week that I already don't want him to go back to work on Monday!

Baby Shower

Yesterday we actually got hot summer weather! I was beginning to wonder if summer was ever going to arrive, but it came in full force yesterday. Matt and I worked on the deck (and our suntans) until about 3:30, but by then it was just too hot to continue working. Our labors paid off though, and by the time we got done, we had the railing up all the way around. We just have to put the spindles in the railing now. Matt custom made the flower box that you see in the corner below. Wednesday was a rainy day, so we set up shop in the basement and worked on making one for each corner of that side of the deck. I can't wait to put flowers in them!

In the middle of working yesterday, when I was drenched in sweat and my hair a mess, I got a phone call from Leah telling me that somehow when they were passing out invitations they had "missed" me, and she and Mrs. Bamford and Sarah were hosting a baby shower in my honor that evening! Talk about surprised!! Usually I am a little suspicious about things, but everyone did a great job at keeping this a secret! Matt completely knew about it and had not so much as dropped one clue that there was a surprise shower being planned for us! He just stood there grinning and winking at me as I got the phone call from Leah. :-) I was grateful she gave me a little heads up so that I could get cleaned up from working.
The shower was so much fun, and everyone spoiled little Brett and I rotten. Mrs. Jan Bamford led the games, and she had very interesting ones. She passed around sealed,  unlabelled baby food jars and we had to name the baby food inside. It was much harder than it looked like it would be! Mashed, cooked baby food looks very much alike! :-) We then were given a page with clues and we had to name the body part of the baby that each clue described. Some of those were stumpers for this blonde brain. We also had an M&M guess where we had to guess how many M&M's were in the baby bottle she passed around. The last game was a list of old wives' tales predictions on whether the expectant mother was having a boy or girl. We had to fill in the blank with "boy" or "girl". Some of them were HILLARIOUS!!
"If the pregnant mother sleeps with her pillow facing north she is having a boy."
 "If her nose is wider now than before she got pregnant, she is having a boy."
How on earth did these people come up with these things!?!?!?
Matt's Mom led in a short devotional and went over a couple of names for the Lord that are so very helpful when you need help and guidance in raising children of your own ( or in any situation):El Shaddai, which encompasses aspects of both a father's strong, protective care and a mother's tender, loving care; Shepherd which shows the care and concern and work the Lord puts in to every one of us. With a God like this, we know we can turn to Him in any situation of life and He will be there ready and willing to help us. It was a great reminder to me, especially knowing that this little guy is entrusted to our keeping and he is an eternal being who needs to be taught about the Lord.
Pam decorated the most adorable cake for little Brett and I, and we snacked on cake, fruit, cheese and crackers. Here is a picture of Pam's handy work.

We were so generously showered with presents with everything from baby washes, lotions, and powder; to nail clippers, thermometer, and diaper cream; to baby wipes and diapers, burp cloths, a little quilt, and much, much more. One package of diapers even looks like the baby is wearing little blue jeans when he has them on. When I got done opening all of the gifts, I had things all around my chair so I couldn't move, and that was how Matt found me when he came to pick me up. :-)
Thank you so much to everyone who blessed us with gifts, and to the Bamfords for hosting the shower. I had such a wonderful time, and the gifts were so very helpful in getting ready for little Brett's arrival.

Here is baby and I with all of our presents after Daddy brought us home last night.

Memorial Day/ Matt's Birthday/Deck Building

Matt has this whole week off and we both have been enjoying every minute of it. It's the first vacation he has had in a year and a half!!
 Monday was Memorial Day as well as Matt's birthday, and our day was packed full of activity. We started out the day by enjoying a birthday breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and eggs that I cooked for him. Matt's friend Kenneth came down Sunday night and stayed the day Monday, so he was able to celebrate Matt's birthday with us. After breakfast, Dad and Mom McFarland and Charity arrived to help out with getting started on building the deck out back. The guys went right to work and I worked away at cleaning up from breakfast and visited with Mom, Charity, and April.
Around 9:30 the guys took a break from working on the deck, and we all went to Blue Hill to watch a Memorial Day parade that Jay was in. We met up with Rosanna and Gramp and Gram McFarland at the parade, and we ended up with the best spot to watch the little ceremony Jay participated in in the middle of the parade route. They paid tribute to all the soldiers who had died in active duty by floating a wreath down the river and a gun salute. Then they all stood at attention while the Last Post and the National Anthem was played by the local high school band, before continuing on with the parade. Here are some pictures Matt got of the ceremony.

A few more pictures from the parade.

After the parade, we headed back home and the guys spent the rest of the day working on the deck. It was beautiful day for working and they wanted to get as much done as possible in the beautiful weather. We womenfolk helped out where we could, making a couple of runs to town for supplies and passing hammers, nails, and screws as they were needed. Here is the progress they made in one day.

Around 5:00 the guys called it a day after all of the floor stringers were in place and a few decking boards were laid. We had invited Matt's family and Kenneth to stay for supper to celebrate Matt's birthday, so I fired up the grill, and the girls and Mom helped me get supper on. Jay and Rosanna arrived around 6:00 and we all sat down to a supper of hamburgers, hotdogs, steak, potato and macaroni salads, with raspberry cheesecake for dessert. I realized afterwards that I got so busy cooking and enjoying the meal that I forgot to take any pictures of the celebrations. You'll just have to trust me that there was a TON of food and we all were stuffed by the time we were done! By 9:00 everybody was ready to call it a night and Matt and I headed to bed tired, but so happy with all of the progress that had been made.