Look Who's 2!!!

Our Rowen turned 2 years old on the 13th of this month, but we had her party on the 12th at my parents house. She is CRAZY about Mickey and Minnie Mouse, so that is the party she received! We decided to have the party at my parents house this year. We were so happy to spend time with family and our best friends from Buffalo, the Arnolds. We were sad though, because Jason's parents were not able to come, but Rowen will have her own celebration with them in a couple of weeks!!! We can't wait!

We had so much fun doing SO many things! We played in the sand and...

even got a birthday smooch (but don't tell Daddy!)!

We took a walk down to the pond.

Spent time with our bestest friends!

The Daddies pulled us in the wagon when we got tired.

We romped through the fields with our Mommies running after us and our Daddies worrying about ticks!

We even took time to smell the flowers underneath the apple trees.

We ate yummy food with our friends and family.

Look at ALL the balloons! My cousin Jenny even had a "bouquet" of balloons delivered to the party. Rowen's first delivery!

Nathan REALLY liked my mom's dill dip! :)

"Can we open presents NOW Mommy?"

"I am SO excited!!!"

We finally get to open them!

"Look at my beautiful hat that Gi Gi and Anna got me!"

The fun Minnie cupcakes that we were up until the wee hours of the night decorating, but it was worth it!

The cupcake decorators! Watch out Cake Boss!
Thank you everyone for making our little girl's birthday SO special. We love you!

"Yay, I'm 2!!!

School Days!

Today was Rowen's first day of preschool! She is now going to the Creative Learning Center Preschool that we have at our church for 3 hours on Mondays and Wednesdays. We can't believe that our baby girl is almost 2 years old! I think we had a harder time with it then she did.

She was so excited to wear her "big girl backpack"!

"Mommy stop taking pictures and come on!"

"Faster Daddy, faster!"

When we arrived, the first place she went to was the "kitchen" to "cook".

This was what she was still doing when we left.

All ready and packed to go home!

"Momma, Daddy, I made HAT!!!" And when we asked if she had fun, this is the smile we got!

I can't believe that the time has come to publish this post. Our little Kyle Joseph came 5 weeks early on August 4th at 6:21 p.m.. We were blessed to be able to hold him for over an hour before he went from our arms to the arms of Jesus. There are no words to describe our feelings then or even now. The only thing that we can say is that our Heavenly Father has been our strength and gives us hope.

There are days when we feel as though the pain is so raw and so excruciating, but our God continues to pick us up off the floor and carries us agan and again. When we feel as though there is no joy left to be found in this life, we look into the eyes of our perfect little girl and can't help but smile and be grateful for her and for eachother.

We are constantly overwhelmed by the support and love that we have received from all of our friends and family. Thank you to all of you; those we have met and those we haven't. We have felt your prayers and your love. We have felt the comfort of Christ through you. Please continue to pray for us. This journey is not over for us. We need renewed strength everyday.

For those of you that were not able to go to Kyle's memorial, this is the letter we wrote and had read:

On January 5th of this year we were elated to find out that we were going to be parents again. Two months later we were told the devastating news that our precious baby boy would pass away shortly after being born. We were shocked and we had no words to describe the pain that we were feeling. We decided to enjoy every moment of our pregnancy that we possibly could. We took joy in every kick and hiccup and we named our sweet boy Kyle Joseph.

To our Heavenly Father...

We thank You for the time you gave us with our Kyle and we trust that he is in Your perfect hands. You have heard our deepest despair, You have seen our pain. You know the tears we have shed and You have comforted us in the midst of the storm. Continue to heal us and bring us joy in this storm. We long for the day when this world will fade away and You will make all things new. You will wipe away every tear, every hurt, every heartache. We thank You that because Your son died, our son lives with You and we will be reunited with him again. We yearn for the day when our family, whole and complete, will stand around Your throne of glory, worshiping forever and ever. Until then, we are Yours here on earth. Continue to be our Rock, our Shelter, our Peace, and our every Need.

To our Son...

Words cannot express the grief that we feel after losing you, but we have hope of one day seeing you again. We want you to know how deeply we love you and hold dear the moments, while short, we had you. We take joy in the fact that you are now in the arms of Jesus and will never know the pains of this world. You will always be missed, always loved, always cherished. And though we know you are in a better place, we still yearn to hold you in our arms and kiss your sweet face. We love you dearest Kyle and look forward to the time will see you again.

All our love now and forever,

Daddy, Mommy, and Big Sister Rowen

WARNING!!!

WARNING! This may be the longest blog you have ever come across! So much has gone on since my last post and I have the hardest time leaving some pictures out. So, sit back and enjoy the show.

Our dear friends, the Robisons, came to visit us from Michigan. We went to the Philadelphia Zoo on one of the days and had a wonderful time.

~Melinda, Mickayla, and Daniel~

~Rowen loved the turtles!~

~This Rhino was getting a bath while we were there.~

~Rowen wanted to give love the whole day, which we of course we ate up like crazy!~

~Rowen loves her daddy (and REALLY loves Daddy's head :) )

~Rowen has decided that she wants to be a big girl and sit at the dining room table instead of her highchair.~

For Mother's Day and our 7th year anniversary, Jason surprised me with a getaway to Lancaster where they have an amazing theatre called Sight and Sound and stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast. Lancaster is also a very Amish area and we got caught behind one on their way to run their errands.

~The beautiful bed and breakfast!~

~Me in the garden swing in the back.~

~Jason and I on the beautiful wrap around front porch.~

~Me in front of Sigh and Sound Theatre~

~My Aunt Gretchen (Rowen's GI GI) sent Rowen a beautiful, new outfit and I couldn't resist taking pictures of Rowen in it!~

For Father's day, the "Argo men" went on a hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail.

~Mom and Dad Argo before the guys headed out.~

~Rowen saying bye bye to Daddy.~

~The guys heading out!~

We were also able to go see Mom Mom Argo in Delaware.

~Rowen giving kisses to her Nanny Argo~

Jason went away to Creation Festival for a week, so Rowen and I went to my parent's house and got pampered!

~Ny Ny and Rowen at my cousin Jen's pool. She also has horses and a donkey and Rowen was so excited to see them!~

~Rowen is our little fish; she LOVES the water!~

~Rowen and Poppa picking weeds~

~Rowen had SO much fun playing in the swing/playhouse at my parent's.~

~Rowen also liked rolling in the grass!~

~My parent's dog Joey, relaxing after a hard day of running through the fields and pouncing in the woods.~

~Rowen and her "Unky" Noah petting Bun Buns the bunny.~

~Rowen's favorite part of our trip was definately playing outside with her Poppa and especially taking rides on the tractor.~

~We had a wonderful week!~

As you can see, we have been very busy and very blessed. There is no new news to report on our Kyle Joseph. He is kicking like a champ everyday. My amniotic fluid is lower than it should be and the doctors said that it was nomal for a baby in our condition. We are getting through each day by the grace of God. I am not going to say that we are doing great, but we are taking it day by day and God is giving us the strength to do it. Our sweet Rowen is a light in our lives that gives us a reason to get up in the morning, laugh in the day, and to feel so abundantly blessed at night. We praise God everday for her and for eachother.