A Mother's Love

A mother's love is something that I couldn't understand until 10 days ago when I had my first child, and I'm sure I will spend the next twenty years trying to explain it. I look at him and I feel like I can connect with all the other mothers out there. I have been thrown head first into this crazy yet so rewarding time in my life, and as everyone told me when I was pregnant, life will never be the same again. Praise God for that, because with this new life has come so many blessings. Joey and I have grown even closer together through this experience.  The way he is as a father just blows me away. I knew he would be good, but wow, it is truly special to watch.  We have for sure grown closer to the One who gave us this amazing blessing.  Everyday, God has equipped us for everything that we have needed to care for and love baby Jackson.  We have had to rely on Him through the times of struggle, especially during the labor and trust that He knows what is best for him.  We just are cherishing every minute we are given with this little guy.  Thanks again for everyone's prayers, food, cards, flowers, gifts, and love during this amazing time in our lives. I would also like to send a special shout out to my mother. I had the honor of having the best mother in the world teach me for the first week how to mother my own child. I can not tell you what a blessing it was to learn from her.  Not only did she teach, but she cared for Joey and I, she stayed up all night so we could sleep, she helped me feed him, she cleaned our house, cooked food, grocery shopped, made christmas dinner, did laundry, kept me laughing when I thought I might break down, encouraged me,  and just did it all with so much grace. If you know my mother you know she would never admit that she is wonderful because she is too humble for that, but as her daughter, and I speak for her other daughter as well, she is.  She is the most giving person I have ever met and the most thoughtful as well.  She would give away her last dime if we would let her and she would do it without ever expecting anything in return. That is what she does, that is who she is.  She gives simply to give.  She has a servant's heart, and Joey, Jackson and I were so blessed by it this past week. Thank you mom for being that kind of mother who is so thoughtful and giving and I pray that that which you have lived out for all these years, Jackson might one day see in me. I love you mom. 

P.s.  Check out another slideshow of Jackson. It is on the right titled "Baby's Bath".  Hope you enjoy!

Mr. Personality

Wow, Baby Jackson has so much personality already. He is officially one week old and is so much fun to watch!  He makes the funniest faces and is constantly making us laugh.  I have even gotten my camera out at 4:30 in the morning to snap some pictures of some faces I couldn't resist. I wanted to share some with you and have a link on the right of my blog that will take you directly to a slideshow of him. Hope you enjoy!

We are truly blessed by this little boy.  We are so happy to have him home and healthy.  We are just trying to take it all in. We don't want to miss anything.   No need to say that we are not getting a whole lot of sleep, but he is sleeping great so that is all that matters.  Joey has found one of his favorite things to do. This is a picture of the morning ritual with father and son.


We have had to take him up to the hospital everyday this week for a shot of antibiotics because he had a slight infection at birth, and we decided that his christmas outfit would be perfect for yesterday's visit. Look at those sweet cheeks!

  "Nan", Joey's mother graciously showed us how to give him a sponge bath.  He did great.
This is a picture of what he looks like most of the time, because luckily he is a great sleeper! Can you believe those cheeks?!
We are truly so blessed. God shows us everyday what an amazing blessing Jackson is and humbles us with how we must rely on Him for the smallest details.  Thank you guys for your continued prayers.  We will keep you posted.

Jackson Philip Kraus

Our beautiful, healthy baby boy: Jackson Philip Kraus!!! He was born on Sunday, December 16 (Joey's Birthday) at 11:39 p.m., weighing 7 pounds 3 ounces at 20 3/4 inches long.

Here are a few pictures of our son. We will post more soon. 

I'm obsessed!!!!

Ok..I know must of you know I'm crazy, but I have become utterly obsessed with digital photoshop elements. I am trying to learn all I can before the little guy gets here in TWO DAYS! I can't wait to capture all the fun and crazy memories, so I am learning as much as possible now. I have been taking photos I have and transforming them in different ways and just playing. Here are a few of the things I have been up to. I have had quite alot of time of my hands since I didn't work this week. Check it out! If you click on the pic it will enlarge to see some details

This pic of Joey and Johnny is one of my favorites. I think the photo is hilarious. I played with the saturation and focus of this picture and I think it came out fun!


This one of my adorable nephew is an example of what a layout would be for like a scrapbook. I played with frames, embelishments, and texture. I cropped him out of the photo to put him in a simple white background.

This one of Julie and Tatum is again just an example of a layout using frames and embelishments. I really played with the colors of the pictures and then cut them out of their blah backgrounds.

I love Photoshop!!!! I can't wait to really get good at this stuff. I also can't wait to play with my new digital camera. I hopefully will have more things to post soon. Whoo hoo...I found a creative outlet! And I need a special thanks to Donna Freeman, my great friend who got me books to teach me these crazy effects.

Christmas Fun!

Tis the season! We had a great time hanging out with friends this past wednesday. We had an early christmas party and ate great food and had an awesome time just hanging out. We had a little friendly game of Pop Culture DVD, of course guys vs. girls and unfortunately the girls didn't win. Now, I think the boys got all the easier questions, but thats just my opinion. Hope you enjoy some of the pics from that night.






How cute is Tatum.....I think she has a crush on Joey

1 week and 6 days....but whose counting

I can not believe that I am so close to holding baby Jackson! Joey and I are so excited and can't believe that he is almost here. What an amazing Christmas blessing! We are as ready as we can be for first time parents,and just excited knowing it is soon. My doctor has already scheduled to induce me on Dec 16th if he isn't here by then, so that would be the latest he would be here. I think having him on that day, Joey's birthday, would be wonderful, but any day is fine with me. I am still feeling well. I am actually sleeping better than I was last month which is funny, but I am just thankful because I know sleep will be the last thing I will be gettin when he comes. Well, I am just so thankful for so many things that I need to list a few:
1. The beautiful nursery thanks to the contributions of my mom, dad, Fran, Flip, Jeff, Lauren and Carson and of course my sweet husband
2. The sweetest emails and calls from Kveton, April Marlow, Debbie Green, Bonnie Roberts, and Jess and Johnny
3. The sweetest gifts from everyone at my showers, my clients, and co-workers
4. Prayers from everyone
5. Health of baby Jackson
I have so much to be thankful for I just am overwhelmed. Thanks again for all the encouragement and support. I am so blessed and excited!
Let the count down begin!

Happy Turkey Day!!!!

What a great holiday! We had so much fun hanging out with family for Thanksgiving! Check out some of these fun pictures of our fabulously fun Turkey Day.

Beep I think you're suppose to cook the dressing first

Flip and Fran fixing a fabulous dinner


Amanda and Carson were really into The Wizard of Oz

The boys doing more eating than helping

Look at my handsome father in law

My cute husband and me

Carson and Joey starting dinner early

How cute are my brother and sister in law? Too precious!


Precious mom and son

The boys needed an after Thanksgiving nap after all that turkey



Carson showing off his many funny faces. Seriously how cute is this kid?!!! He is always photograph ready.











As you can see we had such a great time this Thanksgiving. We had a feast of a meal, thank you so much Flip and Fran, and a shout out to Jeff for cutting up the veggies for the dressing, Beep for stirring, and Joey for carving the turkey. Hope everyone else was able to feel as blessed as Joey and I with our families on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving

What an awesome Thanksgiving we had with my family. We all chipped in to make this dinner possible, well when I say we chipped in I mean my mom did all the work and we got in the way. Thanks mom for making this day so special and for making a fantastic meal!

Joey with his carving knife

Preparing the meal

How cute is my sister?!

mom putting her hands up in the air and wavin 'em like she just don't care

What a sweet family

Jess loves starches

I do too!

Dad hates sweet potatoes


They're so shy

What's pie without ice cream?!

I ate way too much!



I love the holidays and so we have already started decorating for Christmas. Not only did we have a great Thanksgiving but we already started the Christmas celebration as well.



Who invited the elf?

The boys put up the lights


Johnny and Jess finished a Christmas puzzle

What a great time! I also have to mention the Christmas Trivia Game that we played on DVD. It's amazing what you don't know about this great holiday. We can always count on mom for a fun crazy game. Well anywho we had so much fun and I had to share it with you all. Happy Holidays everybody!!!