Early Days

Juggling studying and a fussy baby; not always easy! But look at how sweetly he settled down with daddy. :-)


Proud (and a little sleepy) Father


Did I say sleepy? :-)

Gone are 8 hour nights of sleep; at this point, I consider 2 2 hour stretches of sleep to be a pretty good night! (Actually, he sometimes does better than that. :-) ) But it is completely worth it. (I remind myself of that at 2 in the morning. :-) ) It is an incredible thing to have such a precious, helpless little person entirely dependent on you for everything. You can't help but love him!



Our little philosopher :-)

Freshly washed hair! Isn't he just adorable?!

Cuddling with Grandma McC.

Isn't God good?! Praise the Lord for a such a darling, healthy baby boy!

He's here!

Precious Baby Graham

8 lbs 4 oz, 21 inches. How did he ever fit inside of me?! :-)

We're a family of three!

For more pictures and info, visit www.5mccrackens.blogspot.com or www.parishfam.blogspot.com.

Won't be long now!

I can't wait until there is someone in this precious little cradle! Only 6 days now until this baby is due!

Coming Soon!

Aren't baby clothes precious?!

Boy or girl? Which will it be?


Just about 5 weeks and we'll know!

Could that be a maternity shirt?

Yes it could, and it is! These pictures were taken on a trip back East to visit family this summer. Max is trying to figure out one of Grandpa McCracken's many puzzles in the above picture.


Since these were taken about a month ago, and our precious baby has grown since then, the pictures are not quite accurate as regards size. :-)




Looks like she could be ours, doesn't it? :-) She's not, but doesn't Max look good with a little one in his arms? :-)

A quick catch-up

Hello everyone! Yes, we still exist. :-) I have turned out to be a dreadful blogger, I know. Hopefully I will do better in the future, but no promises. :-) As a result of a two and a half month blog silence, this will be a very random post, covering lots of time. Here goes!


Our dear, sweet nieces! These were taken on a quick visit in April (I think). Breakfast was yummy!





These pictures were taken at a dinner that us kids (I guess I still include Max and I in the "kids" category :-) ) put on for our parents. It turned out well and we all had a good time. There were lots of people in the kitchen!





There are cute little bunnies at our house! And since I don't have a garden, I don't have to count them as pests! :-)




Mrs. Teter's voice students! This was a very nice PSCA recital back in April or May. I was so proud of my two sisters who both performed beautifully.



Eighth grade graduation!



(Sorry the pictures are kind of fuzzy.)

My little brother is in high school! Actually, he's not so little anymore. :-) I love having a brother taller than me! Connor, we are very proud of you.


An exciting trip to the pet store with Nathanael and Lillian!





Ballet recital!




Well, there you have it. Little snippets of our life for the past few months. Actually, these pictures cover only very little bits of it, but they were the only pictures I had. :-) There is one more very significant thing that has taken up much of our thoughts lately. But I think I will wait until I can work on a post about it together with my dear husband and ask him how to scan and post a precious picture that we have. :-) So, that's all for now!


~Jenny

Love is real

Has anyone noticed that nearly every marriage book published says the same thing? "Just wait until the honeymoon is over, then comes reality." Or, "The first year is always the hardest." We have discovered that that is simply not true. Being married has only drawn us closer together. We love each other more and more every day. Fights are not inevitable, stress does not have to tear the two of you apart, and communication does not have to stop. So, don't worry or lose hope. Marriage is beautiful, even after the honeymoon. We didn't go through a "reality check." It's only gotten better and more wonderful. Praise the Lord!

Life

A few weeks ago the three little Parish kids came to our house to spend the night. What a great time we had! Reading on the front lawn, playing in the sandbox, making cookies, and camping out in the living room are so much fun with little kids!


Three of the sweetest little siblings ever!




These are the kids I help with next door, Nathanael and Lillian. Both sweet kids; very full of energy, but fun to be around. :-) About two and a half weeks ago, their new baby sister was born! Lillian constantly is asking to "kiss baby Joy" and Nathanael complains that Joy sleeps way too much. :-) In this picture we are in the process of making cookies. Cookies with kids can be quite messy, so I put aprons on everyone. :-)

~Jenny

First Steps

We thought it might be worthwhile to create a blog dedicated to the life of our family. As I just implied, the blog lives for us; we don't live for the blog. Thus, we plan on feeling very little stress if the updates become a bit erratic. This notwithstanding, we think it's a good thing to use technology to stay connected with our family and friends wherever possible. If you want the sometimes boring but always honest mental bubblings that come from Max's head, visit his blog linked on the sidebar. If you want more interesting news concerning our life together, bookmark this blog and check in periodically.


-Max