Little Mommy

Heather has been following me around, and taking care of her "baby" while I take care of Jonathan. Here, she is nursing her teddy bear, just like she sees me nurse Jonathan several times a day. She'll make a good mom some day!

Fischer Time

I'm enjoying this time in the States, getting to spend time with family. Here are a few pictures of the girls enjoying my parents and brother. It's nice that we only are a few minutes drive from them this time back.

Pregnancy pictures

I decided to be brave and post some pregnancy pictures, of my pregnancy with Jonathan. Yes, I know... I was huge at the end!

11 weeks pregnant
































18 weeks pregnant-- yes its the same shirt... we were in Africa, so give me a break!


















About 34 weeks, with my friend, Jody.








At 37 weeks, on the way to the hospital!

The Heather I know...

Heather hasn't gotten much space on my blog so far, and I need to amend that!

Heather is our second child, and she is a bright star in our lives. She is four and turns five in Sept. She only weighs about 28 lbs., which is the size of the normal 2 year old I think. Because she is so tiny, we often "baby" her. She is very loving, and she is my cuddle bunny. When I was on bedrest, she would snuggle next to me on the couch for hours.

Heather loves watching Barbie movies over and over, dancing ballet, coloring, ponies, the color purple. She is a little timid, but she is brave in her own way. A few months ago, in Arusha, she let go of me in the pool for the first time, wearing her lifevest. She was scared, but she did it! We are so blessed to have Heather in our family. We are blessed with all of our children, each one is such a blessing!!

Two Wheeling it!

Katrina is offically "on the road"!

Katrina learned how to ride her bike without the training wheels today! Bill ran down the street with her once, holding the handle bars, and then I did once, and when I let go-- she took off! She started riding right away and never even fell down once. She has great balance, I guess. I remember it taking me MUCH longer to learn how to ride a bike (like several days!). Anyway, I wanted to post some pictures of the big event. Good job, girl!

In other news, Jonathan rolled over today for the first time (he's 1 month old today). I was very shocked, since that seems quite young to roll over. I am so proud of him.

All ready to go with all of her safety gear on.

Heather was very supportive and ran along beside her... but she is SOOOO ready to have a bike of her own too!

This was Jonathan's view of the event today...

The Butterfly House

We went to the Butterfly house with Grandma and Grandpa DeLaughter this weekend, as a part of Katrina's birthday celebrations. I posted some pictures of it. The girls loved it! You go into a greenhouse where the butterflies are flying all around you! It's very hot and humid, because they are tropical butterflies and are used to that climate. It was quite exciting.

Katrina's Bible Reading, etc.

I have to post this, because I am very proud of my daughter. We have been doing devotions with her at breakfast using a devotional book. We just got Katrina a NIrV Bible for her birthday, and today for the first time I had her read the verse that went along with the devotional.

At first she was nervous and said, "I'm not old enough to read the Bible. It's so big!" But, I encouraged her, and told her that her Bible was especially for those just learning to read. So, she gave it a shot, and she did just fine! She didn't even struggle to read, like she sometimes does. She was so excited to be reading it for herself, and I am so proud of her. We will continue this every morning, to encourage her Bible reading.

Praise God!

On a different, and totally unrelated note, I weighed Jonathan today (sort of-- I weighed myself and then held him and weighed myself again... not very accurate), and he weighs almost 10 lbs already! He's only 3 weeks old! You grow boy! :-]

Baby Jonathan

In case you haven't heard, our third child, and our first son, was born on March 24, 2009. He weighed 7 lbs, 15 1/2 oz. at birth, and 20 1/2 inches long. He regained his birth weight in only 6 days!
We learned when I was 7 months pregnant from an ultrasound (the first one we had since 15 weeks) that we were having a son, and that he had a problem with his right foot. They weren't able to tell much from the ultrasound but the foot did not seem to be the right size.
When he was born, the doctors determined that his right foot has amniotic band syndrome. This means that part of the amniotic sac wrapped around his foot, cutting off circulation and stunting the growth to that foot. The foot is half the size of the left foot and has nubbins, instead of working toes.
The doctors think that he'll be able to walk barefoot without any problems, and will only need a shoe insert for his shoes. We have been blessed by this little boy, whose name we choose because it means, "Gift of God". Many of our prayers for him have already been answered (no surgery needed, he will be able to walk without problem). He is truly a Gift of God! See more pictures of our precious Jonathan below.

Leah's Thoughts re-invented...

Well, I have decided to give up on the blog that I had running with 1and1.com. It was too frustrating to post blogs, so I ended up neglecting it, and never updating it. SO... I have decided to start a new blog. Just in case you want to look at my old blog, you can find it at www.leah.tzdelaughters.com, or you can until we stop paying for 1and1.com. So far, blogger.com has been SOOOO much easier to use, and I know already that I'll be posting blogs here much more often. So, I hope that you will be here often to read, and see how we are doing!

Katrina's 7th birthday

Katrina's 7th Birthday

We enjoyed time with family yesterday, and celebrated Katrina's 7th birthday together. We love you Katrina!

Our new neice, Selah Elle

Welcome to the world to our newest neice, Selah Elle DeLaughter. She was born April 10th, and weighed 6 pounds 5 oz. She was born to proud parents, David and Kara DeLaughter, and welcomed by brothers Wesley and Isaiah. We love you already, Selah, and can't wait to meet you!!!