Baby Shower

Last Saturday my Mom and sister, Geniene, did the sweetest thing and put on a baby shower for me. It was so nice of them. We had a really good time. It was held at Geniene's house.

They had some of my baby clothes stringed up on a clothes line. What a great idea!

I had a sceptor and a crown. I felt like a queen.

They hung up my old blankie that I carried around, obviously forever. I can't believe after all these years, it's back! I loved that thing.

This is now hanging in Abigail's room above her changing table.

My mom, my sisters and I. I am very blessed.

Thanks to my friend, Mary Hand, for taking such great pictures and passing them along!

Just the 3 of Us!

I am so excited about Jaron being an older brother. Just seeing how he behaves around his cousins and other babies reassures me that he will be a loving big brother. Sure, there will be some adjusting to do, but as much as he loves to give hugs and kisses, I think he'll just love doing the same to Abigail. Right now, we are trying to soak up as much fun and memories as a family of three as we can with our little guy while we have the time... but not much. :)

Getting Ready

The Riggall's have been pretty busy lately trying to get the baby room ready for little Abigail. Just about every evening Jeremy has been in there painting over the dark blue color that the former owners of this house decided to paint the once beautiful dark wood trim in. It takes about four coats of white to cover it completely and painting trim is very time consuming anyway. For some reason, that is the color the owners chose for most of the bathroom and the kitchen trim as well, so it has not been a quick easy paint job on this house. All this to say that we finally finished the trim in the baby's room and were able to get started on the fun part, coloring the walls! I have been helping here and there when I'm able, but it has mostly been Jeremy. It's not easy for him to come home after a long day at work, eat dinner and then get started on painting before bedtime almost every night. He's been very faithful and dedicated to getting the job done a month prior to the birth of Abigail...and he's almost there. We hope to have the painting done and the room in order by this weekend. That's our goal anyway. I can't wait so we can relax a little bit before we have to start packing bags (for the hospital), getting ready for our little girl, and soaking in our last couple of weeks as a family of three. There will always be plenty of projects to do around here though. I think the bathroom is next. We have high hopes and dreams for this place, but a little break after Abigail's room will be nice. Once her room is finalized and everything is in place, I will post some pictures. In the mean time, you'll have to put up with pictures of our sweet little 18 month old boy. I also wanted to add in a few pictures of a recent babysitting adventure Jeremy and I had when the Simrak boys came over for an evening. Boy did they have fun! And so did Jeremy and I. It gave us a good idea what it will soon be like with a larger family.

Little Gabe. Isn't he so cute?

It is no easy task trying to take a picture of the three of them.

Jaron and Gabe are only 7 1/2 months apart.

Uncle Jeremy tackeling the boys.

The moment you all may have been waiting for...

House pictures!

We are very pleased with little place and are blessed to have a place that we can call home. Below are some pictures to give you a feel for the place...

Our front porch (yes, we inherited blue wicker porch furniture):

Living Room:

Dining Room:

Kitchen:

Back Yard:

That ought to get you a good feel of the place. The second floor is basically a bathroom and three bedrooms - nothin to fancy.

-Jeremy

Kudos

I would like to state publicly that I think my wife is doing a terrific job of late keeping the Family Blog updated. I raise my glass to her. Sadly, because she is pregnant, she cannot partake in any of that delicious liquid within the glass. Poor girl.

I, however, and doing a terrible job at keeping to my promises, which was posting pictures of the house. I will get to it.... someday.

-Jeremy

Beach Pictures Continued

Beach Vacation

We were blessed to be able to go for a long weekend to Ocean Grove, NJ. We met my parents there and then Saturday my sister Tiffany and her fiance, Jarid, showed up. We had two beautiful days on the beach and a lovely time enjoying the relaxation of the quaint victorian town. My Mom and Dad have fond memories of that place, so it was very special for them, especially my Dad who grew up vacationing there from the time he was just a boy.


Jaron had an absolute marvolous time in the sand and water. He was so brave in the ocean. A little too brave. We had to make sure he didn't go too far in. Every time a wave came, he would tense up and giggle and then when the waves went back, he would try and chase them, not realizing that another one was just about to topple him over. They would have if one of us wasn't there holding on tight because we had extremely rough waves from hurricane Hanna. The cooler water didn't even seem to bother him at all. He has always been a water baby. Ever since the first time I bathed him as a newborn, he never cried in the water. So here are some pictures of our weekend. It was certainly a good way to end the summer. Now we're looking forward to the fall and a new addition to our family. I will send out more pictures along with a video later.

Singing and Swimming

More Pictures

First belly shot I've taken all pregnancy. Only 10 weeks to go!

Doing New Things

Jaron is 17 months old now and such the little toddler now. We are really enjoying this stage. Of course, we say that about every stage, but this one really is a lot of fun. He's soaking in so much like a sponge and into everything. He jabbers constantly, but doesn't say too much that we can understand. He loves brushing his teeth. That's his new thing. He still only has four on top and one still trying to pop up on the bottom, so getting teeth is still taking it's time. He'll go over to the sink, step up on his stool and put his tooth brush under the water and start brushing away. I guess he's seen Mommy do it a lot. He still loves being outside and goes straight for the dirt of course as most boys do. I found a little tykes sliding board someone was throwing away that I brought home for him and he loves it. He's learned to climb it and slide down all by himself. He'll even count to three before he goes down. So that's only a few things that our boy is doing new these days. I'm not sure how he'll handle having a new baby in the house. It's hard to tell how he'll react. He will only be 19 months older than she and is still somewhat dependent, but I do hope he adjusts well. We've only got 10 weeks to go! Little Abigail is doing well and very active in her Mommy's tummy. Jeremy is trying to get things done here and there around the house before she arrives since we know that once she's here, the holidays will also be here and there will be very little time to work on the house.
So here are some recent pictures I thought I'd share.

Jaron and Eli observing closely as Grandpa fixes the toy.


Daddy and Jaron taking a swim in Grandpa and Grandma's pool.


A rare family photo taken on a day at the beach.


Jaron and I went to the park with cousins Eli, Gabe and Aunt Geniene. We had a nice time.