This week Becca celebrated 3 birthdays – 22 weeks, 5 months, and her adjusted 2 month birthday. We’re enjoying seeing her grow and develop each day. This past weekend we were given a lovely shower from our friends at New Life Bible Church. It was Becca’s first “girl-party” and she enjoyed being the guest of honor. We’re grateful for all the love and work that went in to making our shower so special!

Grammy Sutter flew in from PA on Sunday and is here for a week and a half to watch Becca while I’m at school, so Josh can have some extra time to wrap up his semester. My mom brought a bunch of my old baby clothes and is having picture shoots each day. She and Becca also enjoy long walks around campus each day. Both Grammy and Becca seem to be having lots of fun.

Becca had a doctor’s appointment last week. Her weight was 10lbs. and her length was 22in. The doctor was pleased with her progress. I’ve been very busy with teaching, but was delighted to make it home on time on Wednesday to see Josh receive the Donald A. Burquest Award for Excellence in Teaching Linguistics. Becca and I are very proud of him!  I don’t have time to write more, but I hope you enjoy all the photos Grammy has been taking of Becca.

Today is Becca’s 21-week birthday. As you can see from the picture, she now weighs 9lbs. and 14oz.. This afternoon she has a doctor’s appointment, and we’ll find out her length (I’m too lazy to find a tape measure right now to measure her myself). Becca had an OT appointment this past Monday and received a good report. Her OT continues to give us exercises to do with Becca to strengthen her eyes and muscles.

This week, Becca has had lots of new experiences. She went to the grocery store, Costco, and Kohls. It was the first time we’ve been out shopping together as a family, since Becca’s stay at the hospital. I also took Becca to meet my OB. Dr. Moseley delivered Becca but only got to see her as she took her out of my womb and passed her to the neonatologist.

Monday night, we made a visit to the NICU to deliver a photo collage we made for them. We tried to get pictures of Becca’s caregivers while she was in the NICU, but only succeeded in getting about half of the nurses. (Debbie did the lettering for me). It was nice to see several of the NICU nurses again. The nurse that admitted Becca was there and has a good memory of her arrival on Thanksgiving evening.

I started back teaching at Cochran Elementary School this week. In the past two days I’ve received lots of hugs and welcome backs from all my kids. They are all concerned about Becca and are enjoying the pictures I brought of her. They especially like the picture of her reading. Josh is doing a wonderful job taking care of Becca while I’m at school. I think they’re having a lot of fun together. I always enjoy coming home to see my two favorite people.

On Friday I submitted a thoroughly revised dissertation proposal to my committee, in hopes of defending my proposal by semester’s end and officially starting on my dissertation in May. I haven’t posted for a while, so I’ll give a couple updates here.

First, some short clips of Becca over the last couple weeks:

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Second, an update on books Amy and I have read together–mostly in little bits before bed–since our last report (almost a year ago):

• C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength)
• Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)
• The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
• Till We Have Faces (C.S. Lewis)
• The Princess Bride (William Goldman) [yeah, it was a book before it was a movie!]
• Worldliness (C.J. Mahaney)

We’re now working on Shepherding a Child’s Heart (Tripp) and Surprised by Joy (Lewis).

Third, we’ve started memorizing hymns (a New Year’s resolution)–all the stanzas! So far, we’ve memorized “Lord Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor,” “Be Still My Soul,” “Be Thou My Vision,” and “God Moves in a Mysterious Way.” Now we’re working on “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven.”

Well, it’s haircut time for me now. Check back later in the week for the photos.

Today is Becca’s 20-week birthday…it’s hard to believe that she was born 20 weeks ago. Becca went to church for her first time this past Sunday and did an excellent job in the nursery. She was also dedicated during the morning service and enjoyed meeting so many of the people who have been praying for her. I was worried that Becca would spit up all over her outfit before we got to church, but instead she spit up all over me, and I was the one who had to change before we left for church.

Becca is smiling and talking/singing a lot more this week, and we enjoy our conversations with her. Hopefully Josh will post some videos of her, once his school year is over. I start back at school this coming Tuesday. I’ll have 7 weeks of teaching before school is out for the summer. I’m enjoying every day I have at home with Becca and Josh.

Today is Becca’s 19-week birthday. I’m not sure how long we’ll keep celebrating week birthdays, but for now it works as a good marker for posting pictures. This week, we noticed that Becca has really taken to reading…though we’re afraid that the dictionary is going to fall on her one of these days. Becca is not strong enough yet to lift it herself.

This week we celebrated Josh’s 29th birthday. Becca and I surprised Josh with a little gift to celebrate each day of his birthday week. Saturday, Josh’s gift was his birthday meal. I wasn’t sure what to make him this year and he didn’t have any special requests, so I decided to try making crab cakes. My brother, Jon, gave me a recipe and I surprised Josh with a crab cake dinner. I was a bit worried about how they would turn out and about how Josh would like them, but my worries were unwarranted – Josh loved the meal. This was my fourth year celebrating Josh’s birthday. I am so blessed to be married to Josh – he’s a wonderful husband and daddy. I thank God every day for giving me Josh as my husband.

Even though Becca couldn’t go to church on Easter, I still dressed her up for the occasion. I found her a little Easter dress at Goodwill. We had a fun time taking pictures and getting ready to see Josh when he arrived home from church. We have lots of leftover ham from our Easter dinner and I’m trying to find creative ways to use the ham in other meals.

As of this week, Becca is allowed out of the house. This Sunday will be her first time at church and we’re both looking forward to attending church together as a family. Becca’s next OT appointment is on the 19th of April and her doctor’s appointment is the same week. We’ve seen good progress with Becca’s tracking and head lifting this week. It’s always neat to see the progress she makes each day. We continue to enjoy our little Becca. I’m treasuring each day I have before I head back to teaching on the 20th. God has blessed us in so many ways and we continue to see Him work on our behalf.

This week Becca is starting to smile more, and we’re loving it! Though our attempts to get her to smile are not always successful, the reward of seeing her smile is always worth it. Her “smiley” times are usually when she’s playing on the floor or right after she eats. We’re looking forward to the weeks ahead as she progresses in her ability to respond to us.

On Tuesday, Becca and I ventured outside to meet Josh as he walked home from school. Becca seems to enjoy the stroller, though she isn’t too sure about the wind or sun. We’re looking forward to taking Becca outside more, once RSV season is over. Becca will be allowed to leave the house — and be in places where there are more people — by the middle of April. We’re looking forward to taking her to church with us.

Sunday, some of Josh’s fellow classmates came to visit with Becca. So far we’ve had several local guests come  to see Becca. Debbie King was the first, then Micah and Anna Martin (not pictured), YiLing, Pastor and Shawn Lutz, and Josh’s classmates. Everyone has been very careful not to visit if they are sick, and we appreciate their thoughtfulness and look forward to seeing them when Becca is allowed out.

Saturday is Josh’s birthday, and we’ve decided to celebrate by giving him presents all week. We want to make sure he knows that he is the best husband and daddy in the whole wide world. On Sunday, we gave him a card – Monday, we made him cinnamon rolls – Tuesday, we gave him a can of Pringles – Wednesday, we gave him a box of Cheez-Its – today, we gave him a box of snack packs, and you’ll have to wait until next week to find out what the rest of the presents are.

Both Josh and I are working on our proposals and are finding creative ways to watch Becca while we write. I love using her as an excuse not to write, and we both love having her with us. She’s a wonderful distraction and great break from our research. We continue to enjoy being parents and are thankful for the many ways the Lord has kept our little girl safe.