Jenna's First Laughter

A Conversation with Jenna

Counting to 10 with Juliana

Our First Month with Jenna

A brief recap since our last post:

We enjoyed a 3 1/2 week visit with Jill's parents, which meant lots of attention and cuddling for Jenna, and lots of fun at the pool and playground for Juliana, and lots of rest and recovery for Mommy and Daddy. Their visit was a wonderful blessing!

The end of July brought a 3 day heat wave, with temperatures in the upper 90's to low 100's. Since temps like that are not common around here, not many folks have A/C... including us! We are grateful that God provided a place for us to cool off and stay comfortable, when a family in our church invited us to spend the days in their air conditioned home. What a relief for us all, and especially for the girls!

We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on August 4th with a fun family dinner at a Japanese steakhouse. Jenna slept...well, like a baby, but Juliana wasn't sure what to think of the chef's tricks as he cooked our meal at our table. Icecream for dessert was the biggest hit of the evening!

Jenna's Arrival!

Hello Everyone!

We are thrilled to welcome the newest addition to our family, Jennafer Alivia Pierce! She was born on 7/8/09 at 8:03am. She weighed 8 lbs. 1.5 oz., and was 20.5" long. You can check out some pic's below.

Both Mom and Baby are healthy and recovering well. We came home from the hospital today and are adjusting to life as a family of four. Juliana is very affectionate and loves to "iss" and "ugg" her little sister.

Thank you for your prayers!

Birthday cake & candles with Grammie & Papa

Juliana celebrated her 2nd birthday on June 26th! Juliana had just woken up from a nap, so she was a little groggy for the party!

Birthday card from Gramma & Grampa

Juliana celebrated her 2nd birthday on June 26th! We talked with our families via webcam to open cards & gifts.

"Vacuuming"

Juliana loves to "help" with the chores: unloading the dishwasher, dusting...and vacuuming! Her creativity cracks me up!

Swinging with my Friends

We had a fun afternoon at our friends' house today! We are very thankful for this special family!

Otter in the Water

Dunking on Uncle Brad

Coloring with Titia Carmen

The Playground

While Jeff/Daddy was working, Juliana & I went to the playground to enjoy the blue sky & sunshine. We have been so excited to have a break from the winter rain & clouds! Hurray for Spring!! As you'll see from the videos, Juliana loves the sliding board & swings; and Mommy loves to watch her enjoying this new found adventure & independence. Jeff & I often marvel at what a tremendous little blessing she is! Each little pleasure is a gracious gift from God for which we give Him thanks!

Swing

Slide

"Sauce!"

Strawberry "Fishing" at Breakfast

A Sneak Peak at New Baby Pierce

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound. It was fun to see our new little addition with his/her heart pounding and arms & legs moving. We decided to wait this time until after delivery to be surprised as to whether we're having a boy or girl. So, "It's A Boy!" or "It's A Girl!" Your guess is as good as ours! And we're excited to find out...in about 4 1/2 months!

January & February

Time flies...& we have not posted in a while! We've readjusted to "normal" life after our Christmas & New Year's vacation...and I don't have many pictures to show for it! A couple of tidbits from the last two months regarding Juliana that my be of interest...she successfully recovered from two colds (as you will see from the photos below); she discovered that drawing/coloring is her passion; & she threw Jeff's entire wallet in the garbage without our knowledge!! Thankfully we discovered that his wallet was missing & tracked it down before we took our trash to the dumpster! We had a little talk & some strong admonitions NOT to throw anything into the garbage ever again! :)

Snapshots from January

Our Visit with Jill's Family

Thanking God for His Protection

Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

We want to give praise to God for keeping us safe during and after a car accident we were involved in, while traveling from Jeff's home in RI to Jill's sister's home in NY. Although the forecast called for snow, we hoped that by taking a southern route, we could bypass the worst of the storm and arrive as scheduled. As we drove through the snow, we saw brake lights in front of us. We were unable to stop and slid into the guard rail and then the corner of a tractor trailer's bumper. Though the rental car was damaged, none of us were hurt other than some minor bruises. Several other vehicles were involved in similar accidents along about a quarter mile section of the freeway in front of and behind us and some people were seriouly injured. God was gracious in protecting us through the accident and afterwards in seeking medical attention "just in case" and providing shelter for the night until the storm subsided and the roads were cleared in the morning. Since the accident occurred about an hour from Jeff's home, his family was able to pick us up the next day and drive us to the airport for a flight to NY. We were sad to miss spending New Year's Day with Jill's family, but very thankful for our safe arrival by plane & the rest of our visit with them.

Juliana loves books

Big Sister's Baby Doll

Juliana is going to be a big sister!! Jill is due on her sister Julie's birthday, July 7th. We surprised our families during our Christmas & New Year's visits by greeting them at the airport with Juliana wearing a t-shirt with the words "Big Sister" printed on the front. As you can see from the video, Juliana is already practicing for her little sibling's arrival with a new baby doll from her Grammie.

Titia Carmen's Piano Prodigy

Sliding board at Grammie & Papa's house