Matt, Jackie & Family: Our Changing Family

Matt and I have seen so many changes since we moved back to IL... Gracie, living in Springfield, moving to Lisle and displacing Matt's grandma, then buying our first house and having Tyler, Matt's journey through the electronic walls of UIS, my 3 job changes (although, still within Sikich!)... so here is a look back at some of our adventures...

One of the first pictures of our bare house...

Then we added some furniture...

THEN - we added some window coverings - starting to look like we live here now! :)

But before we did the house thing, we played with our little girl and readied for our little boy.

This is Jackie and Tyler, 19 weeks..

And then a little further along...

Tyler's first kiss from Gracie!!

I'm not sure she ever really knew what was going on, but to her credit, she called him Tyler even before she'd met him.

Also pre-Tyler, Gracie's first haircut in Lisle - as long as she has a sucker, she's good to go!

Here is a picture of Gracie on her way to school (daycare) the day before she became a big sister!!

She was such a good girl while Matt and I were busy trying to buy a house and have another baby... she really came into her own, and proved that she is an astonishingly flexible and intuitive child.

And here comes Tyler!!!!

Gracie didn't waste any time getting to know her new little brother...

To reassure her that Ty was not taking her place, we took her to the Zoo... this was a lot of fun!! She got to see real lions, tigers, giraffes, elephants, and all the really neat animals at the Brookfield Zoo :) Ty was just a few weeks old...and stayed home with Grandma.

Matt and I had a nice time re-living one of our very first dates!!

We had a picture taken at this exact same spot, some 11 years ago...how time flies!!

Tyler Charles was baptized Sunday, September 28, at St. Joan of Arc in Lisle. Grandpa Dave Hensley is his godfather, and Danielle Martin and Kelly Magis are co-godmothers. Ty will be very well-taken-care of! And, Anissa and Paulie made it out from FL to attend the ceremony!

To relax after all the hubbub, Matt and Jackie went to one of Matt's friend's weddings - Mr. John LaRock married Ms. Lesley Heffner...but we felt like the party was just for us!