Around the World in 60 Days (Part 2: Washington)

It was so good to be home!  We were welcomed with great big drifts of beautiful white snow!  We had not seen snow in 3 years and so it was such a treat to fly into this winter wonderland.  Eli was able to meet his Aunt Lindsay, both great-grandmas, and many more family and friends for the first time.  He was spoiled rotten with hugs, cuddles, and kisses and soaked up every minute of it! It was such a blessing to spend his first Christmas with family.

 It was so much fun to be apart of all the family holiday traditions after being absent from them for the last couple of years.  Needless to say the Krupke clan knows how to eat!  I'm pretty sure we both gained some extra pounds due to the endless amounts of sweets, a night of "game food" for the Seahawk's game, Crab dinner for Christmas Eve, and of course Christmas Day breakfast and dinner with all the fixins!  We ate and were treated like royalty for the few weeks we were able to spend with everyone.

 Christmas Morning:

Snuggles, Cuddles, Kisses, and Hugs:

 Aunt Lindsay

Grandpa Steve

 Grandma Cheryl

 Great-Grandma Bundy

 Great-Grandma Mary Jane

Around the World in 60 Days (Part 1: Chicago)

 Spring is on its way and the weather is warming up here.  There are some beautiful rose bushes and flowering trees in our little neighborhood that have been so georgous to look at and a sweet reminder of the promise of Spring.  I have been HORRIBLE about continually updating on Eli's little life.  He is already six months old, rolling all around, almost sitting up, and popping a new tooth out every time we turn around (he is already up to six!).  Here are some photos of the last several months.

  From December to Februrary we logged nearly 50 hours in an airplane, swapped sleeping quarters 12 times, and had to use 4 different forms of currency.  It was a wild and crazy adventure and we are SO thankful for our good little traveler.  He made everything so easy and charmed people all over the world with his sweet smile.  On our flight to America, there were not enough bassinets on board, so Eli spent most of the trip asleep on my tray table!

Enjoying a little nap time on the plane!

Over Christmas, we were so grateful to be able to fly back to the states to spend the holidays with family and be the matron-of-honor in my best friend Holly's wedding.  We started out in Chicago for the wedding where we were also able to see my sister Laura and her family as well as some dear family friends.  Eli met his cousins for the first time!

Cousins! Eli and Hallie....they are around 2 months apart!

Elsie (3) Addie (2) Hallie (5 months) Eli (3 months)

We had a mini-Christmas with them where the girls
 opened presents in our hotel room!

Matt and Laura were sweet to watch Eli
so that we could attend the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner!
Look at all those carseats! 

SO thankful for these great friends who treat us just like family!

Me and the bride-to-be!

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of her big day and the beautiful wedding...but all in all we had a great time!

Visitors and Vacations

 It is crazy to think that two months have passed since we brought home Eli.  We have greatly enjoyed getting to know him and he seems to show us more of his personality each day.  We were so blessed to have both parents make the long flight out to visit the newest addition to the family.  My parents were able to come the day after we got home from the hospital and Nate's parents when he was a month old.  The help that they brought, along with the gifts and goodies from America, were a HUGE blessing.  He was properly spoiled throughout both visits!

nap time with Pop Pop

Grammy doing the signature "Eli Bounce"

Virtually visiting with Uncle Evan, Aunt Meagan, Aunt Rachel and cousin Kale

Grandma and Grandpa Krupke loving on Eli

Three generations of Krupke men!

Just this past weekend we were able to take a retreat with our team to a nearby city.  This city is known for its beautiful lake and tea plantations.  We had a very fun and relaxing weekend hanging out with our team and enjoying the sites of this peaceful place, not to mention the western breakfast buffet at our hotel every morning!  It was Eli's first train and hotel experience.  He did a great job.  We feel spoiled to have such an easy going baby.  Here are a few pictures of our trip...

Eli spent most of the time in his stroller, but he didn't seem to mind!

We took full advantage of his portable bed, except for the few times that he napped in the bathroom in his stroller so that we could use the room for entertaining!

Playtime in the hotel with Eli's first friend, Charis, who is 3 months older than him.

Picture Perfect

An acquaintance of ours, who also happens to be our pediatrician, has a hobby of photography and offered to take pictures of Eli for practice.  He also did all the editing and ordering of the photos.  It was fun to have him capture our little guy at the early age of two weeks old.  You can go to the link below to see our little man captured on film.

http://www.tingfamily.ca/Sharing/Sharing-11-Krupke-Edited/26180324_2mbTJd#!i=2179487620&k=pJ9b5bt\

the password to access the site is: MinChunLu

Our bedroom was turned into a makeshift photo studio! 

 

He is here!

We welcomed our beautiful son into the world on September 17th, 2012 at 2:15 pm.  I am realizing how time consuming newborn babies are, because he is 2 1/2 weeks old and I am just now updating this blog on his birth.  We could not have asked for a smoother labor and delivery.  The Lord was continually present and answered every prayer along the way.  He was 9 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long.  We are so thankful for this big, healthy baby boy!

Since I had reached my due date with no baby and because I had been dilated for 3 weeks, our doctor decided to schedule a time to induce.  We are so thankful that we did this because the morning of our appointment it took almost 2 hours to get to the hospital due to a traffic jam. Getting there on time had been a concern of ours, so the Lord completely answered that prayer.  

Here is one last belly shot...I was HUGE!

The whole day flew by before Nate or I even knew what happened.  I was only in labor for about 4 hours with 30 minutes of pushing.  We had downloaded movies and TV shows and were all ready to settle down for a long day of waiting, but he came so fast, we didn't have time to watch any of them.

Once my contractions started, they noticed that his heart rate dropped with each contraction.  They couldn't figure out why and told us that if it didn't get better in 30 minutes they would have to do an emergency C-section.  We started to pray and sent out a few text messages for people to pray.  Within minutes his heart rate picked back up and we were able to have a natural delivery.  It was evident that the Lord was with us every step of the way.

 First photos with mom!

When he was born, the doctor immediately laid him on my chest.  They then handed the scissors to Nate and ordered him to cut the cord.  Which is funny, because I don't think Nate was completely prepared for this task, but he handled it like a pro.  I got to hold him for a few minutes and then they handed him to Nate so that they could finish working on me.  When they handed him to Nate, our doctor, who is small, crazy, Asian lady, started yelling that the baby needed to have skin-to-skin.  The next thing we know, the doctor is ripping off Nate's shirt while he is trying to juggle holding this tiny baby.  It was pretty funny to watch.  Eli and Dad got to have some skin-to-skin time for about 20 minutes.  Nate can calm him down as easily as I can and we wonder if it has something to do with this initial bonding that they got to share.

First photos with Dad!

We enjoyed our stay in the hospital for the next 3 days and 3 nights.  We got great care and they even treated us to a candle lit dinner.  It didn't actually have a candle, but it came with a bottle of wine, steak, and salmon.  We also had a lot of visitors, physically and virtually.

 

First family photo!

All dressed and ready to go home!

E is for...

 All summer I have been sewing and crafting to prepare for our little man.  One project was to turn our guest room into a nursery for him.  I had so much fun sewing his bedding and creating artwork for his walls.  I kind of did an E is for Elephant/Eli theme, but mostly just stuck with gray, green, brown, and orange and went from there.  I realize that he won't care much, but walking into his room makes me happy. 

 

We were so blessed to get a free crib from some friends!  

I had so much fun making the mobile, name pictures, and bedding.

 

 Thanks to some wonderful friends who pooled money

 together during our shower for this great rocking chair

 

I'm working on a "family tree" so that Eli can become

 familiar with family even though they are far away.  Thanks for the free changing table, Kindreds.  We painted it gray to go with the room and love it! 

 Needless to say, it gets a lot of use! :)

Already starting on his book collection!  

Thanks grandma Cheryl and Great Grandma Bundy! 

 He also got a hand made panda from some friends.

  Wardrobe fit for a king!  

Thanks friends and cousin Kale for the gifts and hand-me-downs! 

Still have room for a few visitors! Come on over!