Totally in Love...

To go from this....

to this...




in just a few day...it's amazing!! Each new day I spend getting to know Levi I fall more and more in love! As much as I loved being pregnant, it's hard to remember what it was like before I had this little guy in my arms. We have been so blessed with a great baby - healthy, a great sleeper, and a great eater - we can't even express how elated we are to have a happy baby. God is good (and he knew we couldn't handle another Brendan right now!). I didn't know my heart could open with this much more love for another little baby.

Our family is adjusting quite nicely - Brendan refers to Levi as "my baby" and constantly wants to know what his baby is doing or where he is. He has been very gentle, much to our surprise! He seems to really know that baby Levi was in mommy's belly, and now mommy has an "owie". I'm sure it's hard for him to understand why mommy can't pick him up, but he's becoming such a big boy and is very independent these days! It's so cute to hear him talk about mommy in the hospital and coming home with baby Levi. Here are my 3 favorite boys!!

Levi had his 1 week check on Monday and put up some quite impressive numbers! He was 8lbs 1oz at birth, 7lbs 7oz when he came home...and 8lbs 7oz at 1 week! That's 1lb in just a little over 4 days!! He is also 21 1/2" long, so either he grew 1/2" or just stretched out a little more. We have the green light to stop waking him up to eat in the night, so he's sleeping for 4-5 hours at a time...what a blessing compared to his big brother!

Introducing Levi Marion Russell

Levi Marion Russell

Sunday, May 10th ~ 7:58 pm

8lbs 1oz, 21" long

He's here! After a long labor, we have become a family of 4. We feel so blessed to have another beautiful, healthy boy! We will share more pictures and his birth story later, but wanted to at least let everyone know that he has arrived! God has truly blessed our family!!

39+ weeks...but who is counting??

I really thought we'd have a baby by now, but here I am...5 days from d-day! We've also made official our big announcement - we are moving to Ohio! Back to my hometown, where we are going to give the ole' family business a try. We are both very excited about our changes and the opportunities that lie ahead of us! The boys will grow up close to one set of grandparents and extended family, which we are much looking forward to. It's been difficult and sad to tell our co-workers...and we haven't even begun to say goodbye to our friends. We're only going to be 2 hours away, so we aren't really looking at it as goodbye - we just won't see each other quite as often.

So...we move on May 30th, which could potentially be only 1 week after the birth of our new little boy! We are praying for a healthy and safe delivery, however God plans to bring him into this world. I do know that one thing is certain - I will not be pregnant after Friday, May 22. It's a little later than I was ever thinking, but hey...after 40 weeks, whats a few more days?!?

I'll try to blog again before baby Rosco arrives, and for those that I haven't seen in a while, I'll leave you with a few more great pictures (by Chrisdee Rastatter) taken at 35 weeks. Maybe I'll post another one later...the baby has done a lot of growing since these were taken!

Happy Easter!

Rather than try to catch everyone up (since it's been a while!) right now, here is a sneak-peak with a few pictures from a little photo shoot we did with our friend Chrisdee last weekend. Brendan quite enjoyed the easter eggs, especially throwing them into the fountain.

We just returned from a visit with Tiffany's family in Ohio (our last trip until the baby comes!), and now we're home for a few days before we head to Muncie to spend Easter with Adam's family. We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter - what a glorious week as a Christian, and what a blessing to have the freedom to celebrate our risen Savior. God Bless!!

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...

Just checking to see if anyone is out there! I thought about writing a post today, but I'm still not sure... I have lots of new blogging material, you'll just have to stay tuned for the next 2 weeks to find out what's going on!

Oh yeah - and Brendan's going to be a big brother in (less than) 6 weeks!