Jillian meets family!

Since we have been back in Iowa, Jillian has been able to meet so many family members! It has been such a joy to be reunited with family and to share our little girl with everyone. Jillian continues to grow! At her 8 week appointment (2 weeks ago) she weighed 10lbs 11oz (50th percentile) and 21.5 inches long (30th percentile...a shortly like Mom!). She is smiling more and more every day and has been a good baby, sleeping consistently at night about 8 hours since she was about 8 weeks old! Abby has gone back to work now and is adjusting to leaving Jillian with either her daddy or one of the grandparents. We feel so blessed to not have to do the day care thing yet. Paul continues to work at Lowe's part time and is enjoying watching Jillian on his days at home. We are in the process of getting a house in the Bettendorf area that we'll close on June 17th. We have felt so blessed to be able to live at Abby's parents during this time but are also looking forward to having our first home!

Uncle Matt with Jillian. Uncle Matt was nice enough to come out with Grandpa Hovey to help move us back from Colorado!

Great Grandma Hovey made this beautiful quilt for Jillian

Cousin Alyssa loved playing with Jillian. She has had quite the baby experience with having two younger sisters!

Great Grandma Sutton with Jillian. A 4 generation picture! Abby's aunt Vicki also came along to meet Jillian. She seemed to have a way with being able to make Jillian happy no matter what the circumstance.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Jackson with Jillian. Another 4 generations!

Back in Iowa!

We are officially back in Iowa! Paul and I pulled into Clinton at about 7:30 last night. We were so glad to be home and were overjoyed to be greeted by such wonderful family! Abby's brother and family came to greet us from Marion and of course were anxious to meet Jillian! We plan to unload the moving truck today and attempt to get settled. Paul starts back at Lowe's in Davenport this weekend and Abby still has a few weeks of maternity leave before starting her new job. We are filled with all kinds of emotions right now as we make this transition. Colorado was so good to us and we have so many treasured friends there. Needless to say, it was very hard to leave but we are also excited for the opportunities God has for us here. We are excited to be reunited with all of our Iowa friends and family again!




Jillian's first time meeting Uncle Nick and Aunt Erica! She was also glad to see Grandpa Glew again too!

Sleeping on the job...

As many of you know, Abby is a PT, so she is a believer in tummy time and tries to incorporate it into every day she has with little Jillian. :) Up to this point, Jillian has loved tummy time and fearlessly raises that head with the encouragement of her Mommy. Well, now that she's 5 weeks old she is getting a little smarter and figuring out some tricks to avoid that hard work! She has discovered that she can actually get quite comfortable on the boppy during tummy time and manage to turn it into nap time!

I'm one month old!

Yes, it's true, we've already had Jillian for a month! Oh how time flies and how she is growing and changing every day!

SMILE! :)

Here are some of Jillian's joyful smiles caught on camera! She really does smile quite often but we haven't been quick enough to catch them at the right time! She's a pretty happy baby...most of the time!

What a day!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I went through 4 outfits today! Lets just say I'm eating and digesting very well! It's been pretty entertaining seeing Mommy and Daddy try to clean up my messes before I catch them by suprise again! :)

Life with Jillian

It's hard to believe we have had Jillian for almost 3 weeks now! We are enjoying our time with her, especially when Daddy is home from work and we can all be together! The weather has been very nice this last week so we've been able to get out on some walks with Jillian in her jogger stroller. We have also had several visitors stop by from our church, the seminary, and Abby's work. Many of them have brought meals too so that has been a huge blessing!

Daddy and Jillian on the trails

We took Jillian for a walk on the South Platte trail behind the seminary, a trail we have walked many times before!

Jillian's stretching routine when waking up

Still stretching...

Yes, she has Mom and Dad's complete attention!

Jillian tried a pacifier for the first time this week and has come to like it as she gets better keeping it in her mouth on her own!

We have discovered for nap time Jillian prefers not to be swaddled (especially her arms) and loves to take on this very "free" position!