Goodbye Jackson’s

Our dear friends, Kim & Steve and their 2 boys, are moving to Kansas. Friday night we took supper over, chatted for awhile, and said our goodbyes! We are SO happy for them because they are going to be close to their family and this is something they’ve wanted for a long time. 

But at the same time we’re SO sad!! Kim is such a GREAT friend and I’m going to miss her SO much! I met her through our work 5+ years ago and we hit it off right away! We were originally brought together by all things crafty…you name it…we did it! We even had a table at a few craft shows one year! I don’t think a day went by at work without a call, email, instant message, etc between Kim & me!

Kim has always been an amazing support with my new mommy questions, a great listener when I had frustrations, and I could always count on her to share a laugh (or some mexican food)! I told Kyle the other day that I feel like a kid in elementary who’s best friend is moving away.

Our babies have brought us even closer! Kim & Steve’s youngest, Reece, and Adelyn are only a few short weeks apart and have been in the same room at daycare for the past 4 months. It was so fun to talk about how our kids were going to grow up together and be best buds! And now we will just have to drive a little further to make that happen!

Kim & Steve’s oldest, Garrett, is 2 1/2. It was so fun to watch him and Adelyn interact! He played so well with her. It was SO cute!!

W are going to miss this cute little boy. Every morning when we come into daycare Garrett is in the gym with the other kids and he always runs to greet us and give high 5’s! If Kyle isn’t with us one morning when we drop Adelyn off, Garrett’s first question is “Where Kyle go?”! Such a fun, sweet little boy!

I just have to keep in mind that this isn’t good bye, it’s “see you later”! We will miss you sweet friends!! Can’t wait to come to KS to visit!

Back to the South!

My Mom & Step Dad went to Texas for 6 weeks before Christmas. In December they came home for the holiday and also another grand-baby’s arrival! Now that those events have settled down and the cold is still hanging around here in Iowa they are going to squeeze in some more time in the sunny south, but not before getting in some more time with the grandkids!

Adelyn loves to watch Hayden! Hayden will slow down for the occasional hug, but for the most part he is too busy to notice Adelyn! But it’s always fun to watch them interact! Hayden will definitely miss Grandma. He is a lucky little boy and gets to see Grandma everyday when she’s home in Iowa!

We know Grandma & Grandpa will enjoy their time as snowbirds, but we will miss them for sure! One of these years we want to go visit them in Texas!!

Adelyn’s 6 Month Pictures

A few weeks ago we had Adelyn’s 6 month pictures taken. It was mid afternoon and she hadn’t had a nap. I knew we were pushing it! We probably only spent about a half hour with the photographer and it was like we had to pull smiles out of my usually smiley baby, so I was nervous how they would turn out. But I was SO happy with the results!! Check em out!

This one is my favorite! I love her sweet grin behind the pearls!

And I can’t help but just smile at this one! I love her big, happy smile!!!

Pure Sweetness.

Can’t forget our favorite team! Go Hawks!!!

This was a last minute outfit I threw together…and the last pictures we took too! She was done after this!

Hope you enjoyed my baby’s 6 month pictures! Now I just need to get them ordered so I can hang them on my wall!!

Welcome Lily!

Monday January 9th my sister Stef and her husband Geoff welcome their first baby girl, Lily Mae! Stefanie had a scheduled c section becauase little miss Lily was breach. The procedure went well and both Mom & baby are doing well. This picture just brings tears of joy to my eyes. I love the look on my sisters face when she saw her sweet baby for the first time!
She weighed 9lbs, 3 oz and 22 in long. She has a sweet little round face, blonde hair, and is just perfect! Meeting Lily on Monday  was so wonderful! She is a very special little girl who many have prayed for. She is truly proof of how amazing& faithful our great God is! Such a miracle, as are all babies!!
The new Mommy & Daddy are completely smitten! I couldn’t be more happy for them. I’m just thrilled that they have now experienced the overwhelming love a parent has for a child! There’s nothing like it! And then there were three!
My other two sisters, Wendi & Mindi, my Grandma and my Dad all piled in my sister's suburban and went to Omaha to greet Stef and meet Lily when she came out of recovery.
There’s nothing quite like sisters and I’m so blessed to have these three in my life (and of course we love our Mama too)!! I was so thankful we could all be together for the day to celebrate Lily’s arrival. Does this pictures look familiar?

6 months ago when Adelyn was born…

…and 16 months ago when Hayden was born!

Lily is so very sweet!! I'm so excited for her and Adelyn to grow up together and be best cousins!! I had a cousin that was 9 months older than me and we were inseparable growing up. She actually lived with us for a time when her little brother had an extended hospital stay, so my Mom called us her “twins”. We still call each other "twin cousins" today! I'm excited for Adelyn & Lily to have that special relationship!
Lastly, I whipped up some cookies to celebrate Lily’s birth-day, some with her name, DOB, initials, or her monogram!
To my sweet niece Lily, I’m so happy you are finally here! I have prayed for you for a long time. You are a very special baby and I know God has amazing things in store for your life. I pray you grow up to be a woman of God with a kind heart! You have two amazing parents who love you very, very much and  waited for you for a very long time…be good to them (aka sleep all night!)!!! I love you sweet baby girl! Love, Aunt Darci

Adelyn’s Six Months Old!

December 21st Adelyn was offically 1/2 a year old!! I cannot believe how fast these past 6 months have gone. I'm pretty sure I'm going to say that every month! It's been amazing watching our baby girl learn & grow!

Adelyn continues to be her happy self!! I love that you can just smile at her and she grins from ear to ear!! She is such an easy baby and we love her to pieces!! When Daddy gets her ready in the morning I love to listen to them talk and play!!

Adelyn is at such a fun age right now! She can sit on her own and is scooting all over the place. Daycare keeps telling us that she will be crawling in no time! The older the gets the more she is interested in her toys or at least chewing on them! Speaking of chewing I think she is close to working some more teeth through, she is gnawing everything and drooling all over the place!

Adelyn had 2 first holidays this month. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Kyle's family and had an early Christmas with my family in Omaha. 

Adelyn is consistently eating 5 times a day. I nurse her in the morning and at night before bed. And then she has 3 bottles of breastmilk at daycare. I'm so happy that I've made it half way to my goal of nuring for a year! I really enjoy our time together in the morning and at night! During her 6th month she had rice cereal just once a day at daycare during the week and then at home on the weekends.

During her 6th month we didn't try any foods yet. More on that for her 7 month post! :)

Adelyn is still wearing size 2 diapers and size 3-6 mo clothes. She had 2 Christmas outfits that were 6-9 months and were still a bit big, but I think Januaray/Feburary will be another switch over of her closet!

*SIX MONTH STATS*

weight – 17lbs, 10 oz

length – 27 in

eating – 100% nursing or breastmilk from a bottle

clothes - 3-6 months

diapers - size 2

Final Christmas Post

Alright friends, you will have to bear with me! I wanted to get the last of our Christmas pictures posted, more for my record/memory than anything!

We celebrated Christmas with Kyle’s family on Christmas Eve at his parents house. We had brunch, opened gifts, played games, and finished the day with homemade pizza for supper!

After supper at Kyle’s parents we went to an evening Christmas Eve service at church, one of my favorite things!

We had our own little family Christmas on Christmas morning at home! I’m excited to start new traditions like this with Adelyn!

After our family Christmas at home we went to my Mom’s house for Christmas with her and my Step Dad. They made a nice brunch and we opened gifts.

We got Hayden a train table! He was more interested in the giant bow though! ;p

My Mom wanted to something practical for Adelyn, so we were thankful for a BIG box of diapers. But when we got it unwrapped Adelyn just started CRYING!! We all laughed…the timing was too funny! She was just tried and starting to get sick, so she wasn’t feeling well. Poor girl!

Grandma has a full lap!!

It was a wonderful Christmas season! Having a baby just makes the holiday season SO much more fun and I’m sure as she grows it will just continue!! Thanks for putting up with all my Christmas posts!!

Year in Review

Although we are already 8 days into the new year I still wanted to recap 2011 in the Bangert family. 2011 was a remarkable year filled with blessings beyond belief! Sit back and enjoy a recap of 2011 from our family!

January marked the half way point of my pregnancy and we found out we were having a GIRL!!

In February we headed east to Chicago to visit Kyle’s sister, Melanie and her husband Steve. I think it’s official that it’s an annual trip now!

In March we had some extended time off work for spring break. We took advantage of that time and worked in the nursery. The main project was this amazing closet organizer that Kyle installed!

The end of April my amazing sisters threw me a wonderful baby shower!!

May was a full month! We had maternity pictures taken! (something I’m so thankful that we did!!)

I had my 2nd baby shower. This one was thrown by some great co-workers!!

And we ended the month by finishing off Adelyn’s nursery!

Of course, the highlight of June was welcoming our sweet baby girl into the world!

July was a wonderful month! I enjoyed my time home with Adelyn so much! We celebrated her first holiday at my Mom’s!

I helped plan one of my bestie’s bachelorette party! My Mom was so kind to come along and watch Adelyn so I didn’t have to leave her for the whole weekend!

And when this sweet girl was just 1 month old we were able to capture her sweet smile on camera!

In August I had my 3rd and final shower with some wonderful girls!

We also hosted a couple’s shower for our wonderful friends, Mark & Jenna!

We ended the month with a trip to Omaha to see my sister Stef and her husband Geoff! It was Adelyn’s first road trip!

September was a hard month. I had to go back to work after spending 11+ weeks home with my sweet girl. But there were some definite highlights, we celebrated our nephew’s 1st birthday!

Hawkeye football season began! This is our 5th year as season ticket holders.

Our friends, Mark & Jenna, got married and we were honored to stand up for them on their special day!

And last, but not least, we dedicated our sweet Adelyn to the Lord.

October was a fun month! We took to the pumpkin patch to pick out her first pumpkin!

Adelyn had her first taste of rice cereal and loved it!

My good friend, Kim, and I made a trip to Kansas with our babies for a crafting weekend!

Adelyn’s bottom two teeth came in!

And we celebrated another holiday with this cute little duck!

November was a month of firsts for me a as a Mom. I had to have my first overnight away from Adelyn. It wasn’t easy. In the beginning of the month I had a work trip for 3 days in state and then at the end of the month I had a week long trip to Las Vegas. Now that was fun, but I still missed my baby girl SO much!

Adelyn went from doing the tripod to full on sitting on her own this month!

December was nothing short of magical! Having Adelyn this year made Christmas extra special! Not only did we celebrate Adelyn's first Christmas, but Kyle finished his Bachelor's degree! Needless to say he was very excited for this!!

There is our year in a “nutshell”! We are truly blessed and can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store for our little family!