Living a Blessed Life

My, how time has passed since my last attempt to update the world on the happenings of life in the Schwarz family. As they say, time flies when you're having fun! I'm not sure it has all been fun, but reflecting on the past sure does have many wonderful memories. God has revealed his blessings to our family in ways we could never dream up on our own. I must add one major update before I dive in to the details of this past year (okay, let's be honest - 2 months). June 25th, 2015 was the beginning of our life as a family of 5! Here are the details on our second baby girl: 11 Months Makaiya Faith Schwarz - 6/25/2015 6:00 PM 7lbs. 2oz. 18 inches (Makaiya) - St. Thomas - Magen's Bay She was positioned face up and refused to turn so I could deliver her quickly and easily. This was a clear indication of her personality from the very beginning. Makaiya brings a lot of joy and balance to our family. She is fun-loving, funny, sweet, and knows how to use her bi...

Welcome to the family... Carina Joy Schwarz November 10, 2013 5:31 AM 6 pounds 10 ounces 17 inches long   Darek is great at documenting events as they happen so he doesn't forget the little details that may normally be lost. I, on the other hand have been a little preoccupied so I am just now getting around to recounting the events that led up to the birth of our beautiful daughter, Carina! (Kah-ree-nah) On Friday, 11/8/2013 I was starting to have very infrequent contractions. I knew they were different and that something would be happening soon, but based on my experience with Tobiah's birth I did not know how long it may still take. I had an appointment with my midwife and things were progressing as they should, but there were not strong signals to indicate when Carina would make her big appearance. I was told to enjoy the weekend, help clean up the last of the leaves and get the Christmas lights up so then we could have the baby and the outdoor work w...

I have been such a slacker with this blog over the past year and for that I apologize! We have been so very blessed already and have a lot to look forward to this fall. Baby girl is on her way: Darek, Tobiah and I are expecting an addition of a baby girl in early November. Toby is excited to meet his baby sister, and is it the sweetest thing to hear him include her in his prayers every night before bed. He knows which bedroom is hers and that the cute, pink toys, etc. are for baby sister. We are still working on a name for our new addition, but I am sure we will have that taken care of by the time she arrives. :-) This pregnancy has been completely different from my pregnancy with Toby. I began the first 8 or 9 weeks with some nausea all day long. I was always hungry but as soon as I ate I felt sick. This was especially difficult because that was during the time that we were not yet sharing our exciting news. It was challenging hiding that I was not feeling well, but as far as I ...

In front of the Adams Family home in Quincy, MA Happy 9 Year Anniversary, Darek!   A little background: Darek and I met at a birthday party for a mutual friend our Junior year of high schoo l. (We lived in towns about 30 minutes apart, but ended up having mutual friends through TEC , which Darek was inv olved in and I was not .) I was da ting someone else at the time and our mutual fri end invited him because she had a crush on him ! My first impression was that he (along with his guy friends) was ob noxious and I just could not see what she saw in him... Fast forward a n entire year to the end of our Senior Year in high school. I was invited to a gathering of friends and you guessed it, Darek was there ! I did not think too much of it, but he was writing on his s en io r pictures and had a lin e of people waiting at a table for him. Yes, Darek was always the center of attention! :-) I decided that I should have a photo as well (I believe he gave me 2) so I hopped i...

I have failed miserably at keeping this blog updated recently. I used to have some time at work or in the evenings, but that is no longer the case. My time is pretty much accounted for from the minute I wake to the minute I fall asleep (on the couch before I get to bed...) If you have a child or children you know that time gets away from you and before you know it you've missed four months worth of updates. I apologize for that. Without making this post 10 pages long I will do my best to highlight the key points of the past 4 months and keep it interesting... Here we go... Tobiah is 16.5 months old already and he is busy, busy, busy! He started walking consistently, shortly after his birthday. Since then we have been chasing him around and he has truly enjoyed his new-found independence. Toby has all of his top and bottom teeth from 1st molar to 1st molar! Teething was only difficult for a few short weeks when he had 6 teeth coming through at once. He is a trooper, a...

Is it even possible that Tobiah has reached the 1 year mark? It seems like yesterday that I was anxiously (or not so anxiously) awaiting his arrival and here we are an entire year later! The journey this past year has been both challenging and rewarding, with SO much more to come... We have enjoyed the Hot summer this year, and I am grateful that my schedule allowed me to spend a significant amount of time outside, playing in the water and taking walks. Tobiah received a swing for his birthday and he really seems to enjoy it! It makes a huge swooping motion, which probably makes his little tummy rise to his throat, but he still smiles and asks for more.  ;-) Tobiah has always been a very vocal baby, and that has continued into this new stage in life. Not only does he jabber a lot, but he has recently become quite demanding and frustrated that he cannot express his needs so that we understand what he wants. We are working through some tough tantrums currently, but I know ...

ROAD TRIP!!! (for photo's click here ) Vacations consisting of road trips and sight-seeing were a regular part of my upbringing and I am thrilled that we have started that same tradition with Toby. Our family road trips consist of more baseball than my childhood vacations, but that is A-Okay with me.  Spending quality time on the road together is a lot of fun. We choose to drive during times that Toby would normally be napping so it is easier on him, and it gives us a good chance to talk about anything and everything. Sometimes we are so busy with the hustle and bustle of life that we don’t get a chance to relax and just ‘be’. Day I We started our vacation by heading to Chicago and arriving in the late evening. We stayed at a Holiday Inn which, to my surprise, was very nice! I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but it was nice. Jeff, Julie & Brityn Eaton met up with us along the way so we stopped by their room for a little bit to chat about our plans for the n...