Summer Highlights!

Ok, so I'm needing some grace. Life with 3 little ones is a bit full and a lot on my plate. I LOVE IT... I love most every second, (notice I said MOST) every second. Elijah is an amazing baby... great eater (now), great sleeper, mostly pretty chill baby... THANK YOU JESUS!!! But, will summer in full swing, it's been hard to sit down at a computer to write or post pics even. So, here are some highlights of our summer:

In July, Stephen's mom (Grandma) came to visit for two weeks...

Cookouts!

Eiffel Tower visit

Sadie's Second Birthday Party (not on her birthday)

Brother/Sister love

We even got her to Disneyland Paris!

These are the "beaches of Paris"... along the Seine River. Sand and all! 

 Some sweet friends who are like big sisters to Sadie Mac took her to see Monsters University... this is the "after the movie shot"

 Elijah took his first dip in the pool around 2 months!

 Then...

NanNan (Amanda's mom) came to visit!!! 

We took her to a new favorite castle that's only 30 min. from our house.

Took her on a Seine River Boat Cruise...

Took her to the Eiffel Tower

(because when people come to visit you, that's just what you do. 

And I will say, it still amazes me every time I go!)

 

 Batman and Wonder Woman came for a visit!

and, they made plans

Back to Disney... 

Sadie's birthday party with friends!

Eli with cuddles from NanNan at 3 months

Sadie's "real" birthday... she had 4 parties this year.

Will.Never.Do.That.Again.

Noah learned to shave

and LOTS and LOTS of this on hot summer days. 

(We had a good amount this year, for Paris!) I loved it!

Happy Summer 2013...

I'll do my best to post more... when I have time. But seriously, with 3 little ones, 

it's harder than I thought to post! 

Life With 3...

Well, blogging has all of a sudden been put on a "only when I have time" list and there is rarely time with 3 little ones under 5 running around our house. So, I'll catch you up on life since Elijah came...

Right after he was born a very sweet friend of mine made me a delicious Moroccan meal and came with two of her children to share it with me. She is precious and just wanted to help. It was chicken, boiled eggs, a pasta sort of thing and a creamy lentil sauce. Sounds weird, but it's so good. It's called Rrfisa/Tteud... (or something like that)!

Here is a pic...

 Here is my sweet friend enjoying the meal together...

When Elijah was 2 weeks weeks old, we found out he had lost a considerable amount of weight. He was nursing, but he wasn't eating. We thought he was going to have to be put in the hospital, but our doctor put him on a "force feed" kinda diet and I had to pump so we could see exactly how much he was eating. I have an AMAZING FRIEND who lives in a bordering country and she BLESSED MY SOCKS OFF by coming to help for a week. God sent her at the perfect time too. She helped me with late night feedings so I could sleep, she cooked, clean, played with the big kids, and just loved me well as a friend. And, thanks to prayers and help from her, Eli gained 2 pounds in 2 weeks!!! I was/am so blessed by the friends around us and am so amazingly thankful to them all. Being so far from "family" has been hard, but the Lord has given me family over here to help in so many ways... Here is my sweet friend "Janet" whom I love dearly! 

Life with 3 has also brought...  

A TON OF LAUNDRY! 

Here is my cutie in the laundry basket. 

After I hung it up... he slept and I played with big brother and sister outside! 

 Oh the Laundry!!!

Here are two of my little loves. Sadie Mac LOVES little brother!

(Elijah at 6 weeks... more chunky than...)

(Elijah at 3 weeks...)

Loving his big brother... and his big brother loving him back! 

The Many Faces of Eli...

The past six weeks have been an absolute blur. I can't believe little guy is SIX WEEKS. It's been a bit of a roller coaster, but we're thankful that He's doing great now and here are some of his faces along the journey... 

"Bashful"

 "Grumpy"

 "Sneezy"

 "Sleepy"

 "Happy"... giving me the pound-it. 

 And my personal favorite: 

"Cutie"

We love him and he's a great addition to our family!

Elijah Stephen Rhyne is Here!!!

Well, April 27, 2013 will always have great meaning to our family... that is when Elijah decided to come! What an amazing story he has!! We thank God for His grace through the delivery and giving Elijah a safe arrival here in France! Here is a little bit of his story:

That Saturday, started out like most others... dad went to work and Noah, Sadie and I... played, cleaned, rested, did projects... etc. Pretty normal Saturday. We had plans to go to dinner with some dear friends and were making it somewhere easy for the kids... a KFC with a play place!!! 

It was about 7 pm and we were hanging out after dinner letting the kids play and headed to the cars to go to another store to do some walking around when I had a pretty strong contraction and my water broke, in the parking lot at KFC! We decided we should head home and see what would happen, knowing he would be here in the next 24 hours! 

I'm so thankful we decided to go ahead and do the 15 min drive home as contractions started coming 3-4 min. apart. As soon as we got home Stephen ran in, grabbed our hospital bag, got the kids settled in 2 seconds for our friends who were with us... and we headed off to the hospital. We walked. Yes... we did... it was only 3 blocks from our house and so to me, I'd rather Stephen be with me than dropping me off, driving back to the house, parking, and walking back! It's about a 5 min. walk and we definitely saw several people move out of the way as they could tell where we were headed... and why! 

My last pic of Elijah's pregnancy... 

and a contraction (thanks Stephen! haha)

We got to the hospital about 7:45 pm and they quickly moved me into the delivery room and got ready. They asked if I wanted an epidural and after a few more contractions I said yes, but they didn't have my paperwork for the anesthesiologist. It was Saturday night, so the labs were closed, but they worked on it. By the time they got all the paper work in order, and he came in to give me the epidural,  I was at 10 cm and I was ready for little guy to come!! The anesthesiologist gave me a "sorry" kinda smile, however I did not smile back! 

Elijah arrived at 9:03pm, two hours after the process began in the KFC parking lot!!! Quick for sure! 

God was so gracious and Stephen was an amazing support and encouragement! The whole thing was in French, so wow... that was a great language learning experience! 

My midwife is on the left and her "team" is on the right! 

All 7 pounds of him and 20 inches long!

Happy as a clam being close to mama!

Meeting big brother 

and big sister

Happy boy at home!

Ready When He Is...

I'm so blessed to have amazing friends who would throw a super fun baby shower for me this past Saturday (more pics to come on that!) I'm super glad they did because that night we thought little guy was going to make his arrival! After a few hours of pretty good contractions, they just stopped... since then, they have continued on and off... but we decided to finish the nursery and get ready! Special thanks to my friends who helped move furniture, give me ideas, and gave me amazing and sweet gifts for the baby! 

 Here is a preview of the room...
(However, mentally add a blue "transportation theme" valance above the window... it's in the mail!
THANK YOU MAMA!)

His crib and very cool and creative mobile Stephen helped me make! 

Other side of the room for any guests who want to come and help! ;-)