The house

The house has grown in the last few months. The progress is slow and steady. Since these pictures were taken the roof is complete and we have a garage door. The siding is coming this week and I am thrilled to see the project turning into a real home.

Soon our VERY frequent trips to Menard's will be worth it as we can turn on more than a plain light bulb and maybe flush a toilet.

I've got a ton of ideas of how to decorate and can't wait to get started.

Gavin grows...

Gavin is 2 months old. Time is flying. As you can see he is now giving us the best smiles. He is also growing like crazy. As of 2 weeks ago he had gained 4 lbs since birth. He is healthy, and for that we are thankful.

We did take the kids trick-or-treating, Gavin slept the whole time...and as you can see did not enjoy picture time. Adelyn was a great monarch butterfly. Her wings would bounce as she ran up to the houses.

I came into the living room one day to find Addie reading to her little brother and fortunately was able to catch a picture of the moment.

The proud big sister is happy to hold her little brother for mommy. "Say cheese" :)

Changes

I just wanted everyone to know that things are going well in the Rainsberger household. Adelyn had a hard time adjusting at first but is doing much better. I am feeling great, however, I still don't have the energy I think I should. I do lots of laundry and wash a lot of dishes, however, it is a challenge just to get myself cleaned up without many interruptions let alone, keep the house neat and tidy. Gavin is doing good also. He is a bit gassy and is still adjusting to night/day time in the real world, but his schedule is improving. Jayson is working his real job and on stuff for the house. For some reason he doesn't feel as rested in the morning as he used to, but he is doing a great job and is being very helpful. My maternity leave is already half over....very sad, but it is exciting to see Gavin growing and changing already. It is also a blessing to see Adelyn's obvious love of her little brother. I am trying to take 1 day at a time and enjoy the ride.

Excited Big Sister

He's Here!

Gavin Philip Rainsberger is here! He was born on 9-9-09 at 4:35 PM. He weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and was 20 1/2 in long. As you can see in the picture he has some bruising and abrasions on the top of his head from the vacuum. The Doctor had to really pull to get him out because his pulse started to weaken during the contractions. It ended up that Meghann was really close to having a C section because the cord was wrapped around his neck one time.

Other than that Meghann had a relatively easy delivery. She was induced at 7:30AM and didn't really start hard labor until 3:30 PM. Meghann and Gavin are doing very well.

Adelyn was very excited to see her little brother, she couldn't wait to hold him.

Progress on the home front

As you can see we have had a lot of help with the process. Here Luke, Adelyn and Courtney are helping to prepare the ground for the foundation. We like to keep them hard at work. :) Actually they love to do anything that allows them to get dirty and this project definitely has offered a lot of opportunities.
We had a company out of Michigan, Superior Walls, precast and set our basement walls. This was something new for our county so it was and exciting step. There are wood studs on the inside so when we are ready to finish the basement we can hang the drywall directly to the existing walls. They also have enough insulation so that we do not have to add any additional unless we choose to.
The men setting the walls used the huge crane to life each section from a trailer bed and set them precisely where each needed to go.










Jayson, my dad and Dave all were a big help in setting the floor trusses. We have rough framed the bedroom, bathroom and mechanical room in the basement.

Since these pictures were taken we also have a sub floor and steps into the basement. The kids started school about 2 weeks ago and after about a week of safety classes they have put up most of our exterior walls. The process is exciting and it is amazing how easy it is to spend money. We have had a few surprises, spending more here, getting a good deal there....so our hope is that it all works out in the end.

We are still awaiting the arrival of the baby, and are hoping for this week. His big sister is ready to meet him, as are mommy and daddy. We will post the important information when we have it.

Doing well

Hi everyone, just wanted you all to know that we are doing well, just busy. The pregnancy is going well. We are expecting a boy in September and we are both growing as expected. Jayson built Adelyn a swing in May which she is enjoying as well as her friends. We are getting closer to starting our building project which is exciting, but makes me nervous also. I am currently looking for the battery charger for our camera battery....when that is found we will update our pictures. :)

New House

It looks like we are going to have a busy year. Meghann and I have been offerred a great opportunity by school district where I work. Because of the state of the economy the high school's Construction Trades class does not have a home to build this year. So, we are going to take the opportunity to have them build us a house.

We are really early in the process, but things are looking pretty good. Intrest rates are really low, so are lumber prices and we are getting a great deal on land since we will be building on a portion of the family farm. We are very excited and nervous all at the same time. We will probably break ground sometime in June 09 and have the whole project completed by the middle of May 2010. The house will be just under 1800 sqft with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a full basement with a walkout.

New addition...

Jayson and I felt that his siblings were getting too much attention with their new babies over the last few months.....So we thought we would announce that we are expecting another baby in September. This are going well...I am 3 1/2 months along and other than fatigue, overactive emotions and heart burn, I feel very well. There are days I forget that it's happening. I am starting to expand, but unfortunately don't appear obviously pregnant to those who do not know. I can't wait to feel the little one move and get the firm rounded belly so I don't feel like I have to explain the reason why I am gaining weight. :) We just wanted you all to know and we will try to keep you posted when we have more interesting information.

Disney on Ice

1 week after Addie's birthday we (grandparents and aunt, Jayson and I, and the Mousketeers) went to Ft. Wayne to watch Micky and Minnie's Amazing Adventure. We got to experience The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan (to name 3 of 5 movies) on ice. The kids all did great, even the little ones. The adults had a wonderful time watching the kids and singing along.

This was a fun way to extend Adelyn's birthday celebration. It was a day full of great memories and lots of smiles.

Adelyn is 2!

I know, I am 3 weeks behind schedule. :) It has been a little crazy around here the last 6 weeks or so. But first things first....Adelyn is now 2. She is independent, talented and very dramatic. We have some very good times and some very frustrating times but I wouldn't trade any minute.

As you can see Adelyn is happy to be sharing her big day with the mousketeers. She became very fond of Micky Mouse Clubhouse about a month before her birthday. We had a good time celebrating. She is very interested in singing, playing with dolls and "doing things herself."

As you can tell it was a big day. This was taken after the festivities. She went home, took a good nap and was still recovering the next day. We love you Adelyn. Hope your next year is full of even more discoveries and excitement.

January at the Rainsberger's

This year has already been interesting and January is not even over yet!! Adelyn has been potty training for 2-3 weeks and is doing very well. It was scary for me to start the process, but I guess she was ready because she has had very few accidents. We are getting the pleasure of visiting many of the employee rest rooms around LaGrange. :)

Jayson had a birthday on the 12th, we ended up with only 1 picture of him, taken by Landon, and many of the children. (Funny how that happens). Jayson is now 28 and is aging daily. 3 days ago he woke up with a headache and a stiff neck, so he stayed home from work. By the time I got home he could not turn his head or move much in any direction. He looked rather funny. I took him back the the same doctors office I had just left and he got some prescriptions. So for the last 2 days he has been moving a little more, but mostly sleeping from the muscle relaxers and pain medication. I didn't realize that people age quite this quickly. :)

Adelyn is entering the terrible 2's. Here is a picture of her happy....probably because she is doing what she wants to do. It is very interesting dealing with all the drama and independence from a growing little girl.

Here was Adelyn showing off her little blue caps. They were left over from a project that daddy was working on and she was very proud to have gotten one on each of her fingers. Adelyn is also learning how to say her name. Adelyn Grace comes out pretty easily...but Rainsberger is taking her a little more time. She also knows mommy and daddy's first names and is quite proud of herself apparently because she likes to use them.