Have I mentioned...

that I have a pretty amazing husband?! My mom has been in town this week working with me to get our website stuff close to finalized (we think we'll be up and running by the end of August!). She and I have had a great time together and she has been so excited to see Samuel! We asked her if while she was here if she would mind watching Samuel one night so Ryan and I could go on a short date. She graciously said yes and Ryan said he was going to plan the evening. Of course he didn't tell me any of his plans until we arrived at each location!

Ryan came home around 4 and just hung out with the three of us for a bit. We left the house around 5 and off we went! As we drove Ryan asked if I knew where we were going, to which I said no and didn't really want to offer my thoughts in case I knew the surprise. I asked a few prying questions but he wouldn't relinquish any info! We pulled into our outdoor shopping area and parked the car. I looked up and we were in front of Spa Envy, he had set up a one hour couples massage for both of us! It was WONDERFUL!!! Afterwards we went to a wonderful restaurant along the Cape Fear River to end this wonderfully romantic evening!

We came home to a happy baby boy and Bebe (that's what my mom wants to be called). We bathed Samuel and spent some time just the 3 of us and are now on our way to bed. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty perfect evening!

Wordless Wednesdays

Just another Saturday

Samuel and I (Grace) are just hanging out at home today, cleaning and doing laundry! It is incredible how much he has grown, I just can't believe it! I weighed him today and he is now over 10 pounds...so at least I know he is getting enough food! His Bebe (my mom) is coming tomorrow for a few days, I know we will have fun together. Here is a picture from today for you to see, hope you enjoy!

Worrdless Wednesdays

A friend of mine does this on her blob. I think I will start doing it too and see how it goes.

Bath Time

Samuel has graduated to a full bath and enjoys parts of it and not so much other parts! He seems to like the part in the water, but not the getting out and drying off part! Hopefully as he gets older he will enjoy it even more!

A walk on the beach

Tonight we decided to venture to the beach. It was a cool and breezy evening, and perfect for a stroll. We strapped Samuel into our baby carrier and off we went. He slept the whole time and seemed to enjoy the sounds of the waves crashing and the cool evening breeze.

Samuel is 2 weeks

We took Samuel to the doctor today for his 2 week check-up. The doctor said everything was looking great! He has gained over a pound since leaving the hospital and is also growing. We are so thankful that he is eating well, sleeping well, and starting to stay awake for longer periods of time for us to enjoy him. We have had a good week of trying to get out a good bit. Ryan and I went to dinner with some friends and Samuel just slept so perfectly the whole time. We have had some friends over to swim in our pool, we haven't put Samuel in the water yet, but maybe soon (we did check with the doctor and he said it was fine!). Ryan and I have taken Samuel out for several evening/early morning walks around a local park, trying to get back into my exercising! I have added a few pictures below of Samuel, hope you enjoy!

Samuel likes his swing, he tends to be pretty content while swinging and sometimes will even fall asleep in here!

Ryan was trying to show how small Samuel is, or how big our furniture is! You decide!

Samuel zonked after going to church and then to the beach to take some family photos. He certainly was a trooper though!

Cow Appreciation Day

Samuel made his first trip to the mall today! Chick-fil-A's across the country celebrated Cow Appreciation day on Friday! Anyone that dressed up as a cow got free food! We sent our cow around the mall saying hello to all our patrons and passing out coupons. We stopped by so everyone could see Samuel and so we could get our free lunch!

Ryan with Ms. Brenda, our GM! She is totally awesome...we love her!

Getting ready to go inside! Samuel's outfit has a cow on it and it says "udderly adorable". I thought it was appropriate!

Dad ready to show off his cute little man!

I think he is in love already! Can we change the child labor laws, when can he start working?

Time flies by!

I can't believe it, but Samuel is 1 week old today. I was up feeding him at 5:45 this morning and realized that it was about this time that I was getting to hold my son for the first time. It was such a special time and something I will remember forever. He seems to have grown so much already! He is such a content baby and seems to enjoy being on the outside! Here are a few pictures from the last week!

Samuel loves his daddy, Ryan is pretty infatuated as well!

After his first sponge bath. He did pretty great, but didn't really enjoy it too much!

Samuel and his Bebe. She was so amazing to stay a few more days after the rest of the family left! We had a great time together and Samuel was pretty excited to have here here too!

Samuel's first trip out, and what better place than the beach? We want him to love the beach so we thought this was appropriate! He seemed to enjoy the sea breeze a good bit!

What's in a name?

Well, Ryan and I had a lengthy time deciding what to name our special boy! We had decided to keep his name to ourselves until he entered this world, and it was so special to be able to finally tell our family his name. When we were deciding what to name our son we wanted him to have a solid name that stood for something and even was named after an amazing man!

First, biblically speaking Samuel means "heard of God". Samuel was a gift to Hannah after her many prayers and petitions to the Lord for a child. Ryan and I really feel like Samuel is such a gift from God and that he has heard our prayers the past couple years and provided us with this amazing life when he knew we were ready! Samuel was called by God to do many things during a major turning point in Israel's history and God was able to use him because he was willing to serve his Lord. He demonstrated that those whom God finds faithful in the small things will be trusted with greater things. We pray that our Samuel will have a childlike faith throughout his life, knowing that God not only takes care of the big things but the little things too! A verse from 1 Samuel that I love says "The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground." Please pray with us that the Lord would work through us and in Samuel that he would be a man of God.

The second reason we chose Samuel was after a person that has had an impact on both of our lives (directly and indirectly). Many people know that we have both been involved with Chick-fil-A for many years. Ryan and I both were part of the WinShape program, sponsored by CFA and created by Truett Cathy. Ryan also is now a CFA operator. We love this company and the Cathy family and what they stand for. Truett is an amazing man who loves everyone around him, he is a servant and a great business man. Truett's first name is Samuel and we thought it was a great way to teach our son of a great man's life and the legacy his name will leave.

Our Samuel has some big shoes to fill and we are excited to see how he lives up to his name!

Our Little man is here!

Samuel David Powell has arrived. I am just writing a short update now because the family is here, but soon I will give you some history behind his name! Now just for some fun new baby facts. I went to the hospital on Wednesday and was admitted at 7:30am. They broke my water around 9 and started the petocin around 11. It took a while for me to reach 10 cm, but at 2am on Thursday we thought we were ready to push. Unfortunately after 45 minutes we found out that he really hadn't descended as much as we had thought so I stopped pushing. by this point my epidural had worn off for the 2nd time so they gave me a little bit more and also an antibiotic for something, i was a little out of it! I started pushing again around 4:45 and by 5:18am Samuel had made his appearance into this big old world! He weighed 8lbs 15.4 oz and was 21.5 inches long! Needless to say, he's a big boy, but is absolutely perfect! We stayed in the hospital until Friday around 5 and then made our way home!!!