The 7 Days of Halloween!

Yes, we know it's, "The Seven Days of Christmas", but around here we like to extend all fun holidays! So we packed up our little monkey's and headed to a Pre Halloween Party!




Aunt Sarah, Uncle Jay and Grace even joined in on the fun!

"Gracie's good looking", according to Blake!

We also celebrated the victory of

MSU over U of M!

"Don't even think about taking my banana, lil chick!"

Fried Chicken!

Then we had a Halloween dinner party at Nanna and Papa's. Where we visited with Aunt Jaclyn and Uncle Greg.

And showed off the cool pumpkins with Nanna and Aunt Merrill, that Blake and Papa carved!

Bare Chested Boys!

Our Bare Chested Bath time Boys!!



Yes...Stefan is our "biggie" and Blake is our "peanut".

Stefan is now 12.3lbs, in the 75th percentile at 10 weeks.

Blake is 26 months and about 23 lbs...below the chart!

We may start dressing them in twin clothes soon!








It makes me cry sometimes looking at Stefan's perfect baby chest to know what is coming with the surgery. This may be one of his last bare chested pictures with out the scar. It is not that I am so worried about a scar, just everything that goes along with it.
I have become friends with a fellow heart mom and this is what she said about her beautiful daughters scar:
"I've come to somewhat admire it - it's the door to her beautiful heart and a "mended heart is a special heart!"

I found that so special and I know I will feel the same way. I just feel a little heart broken myself thinking that our sweet baby has to go through all of this. And as my friend also said, "this scar saved her life". I know the same will be true for Stefan. He is a trooper and the scar will be his badge of honor and courage.



"Ok...enough already Mom, let us boys be boys!!!"

Go State!

Go Green, Go white!! Yes, we have started to warm up to maize and blue with Stefan's upcoming surgery at U of M....however State still holds the candle!

We headed up to East Lansing for a little tailgating fun with our little Spartans.














We met up with our fellow alum and their newest spartan, Henry!
















The tailgating was a little better than the blow-out game!









The Best Big Brothers Blake and William, with little bro's Stefan (our future line backer) and Henry!

Zoo Boo!

We bundled up and headed to the zoo!

I surrender to the hay maze!

Zoo Boo is fun for everyone!

Safari man Blake! Exploring the outer bounds of the zoo!

Lauren C and Blake having a blast!

Little Pumpkins Busy Weekend!

We had a fun and action packed weekend with our family in town for Stefan's Baptism.



'The Pumpkin Patch'
All wearing the same size 6-12 month shirts!!



























The Black Cat not Bat Hat! ;)




















Boat Coating it on a beautiful 80 degree October Sunday!
















Love you B'Grace!
















Stefan says, "Enough pictures already mama!"

A Blessed Baptism

What a wonderful weekend and very special celebration of Stefan's Baptism. We are so blessed that we were able to baptize Stefan at St Hubert's with our immediate family as we had originally planned before knowing of his heart condition and NICU stay. We had nearly baptized him at Children's hospital, but our prayers were answered and we were able to take our little man home. Thank God!

Several signs happened this weekend that make us feel even more sure that God is watching over Stefan and he remain safe in our love for years to come. First when I ordered his baptism cake, I chose a heart design, the baker came over to help me with the order and asked the occasion. I told her a baptism and she said we have cakes with crosses on them. I quickly told her why I wanted the heart with the cross inside for Stefan's heart. She looked at me and then at Stefan and said as sure as can be, "He is going to be just fine!" At first I thought she was a bit crazy, then she went into the story of her 22 year old son who also underwent open heart surgery as a baby. She went on to say he is "perfect", top performer in high school sports, no problems what so ever. We can only pray that one day we will have a similar success story.

The next 'sign' was right before Stefan's baptism mass, I asked the priest if he could do a special prayer for Stefan and his upcoming surgery. The father looked me in the eye and said, "My name is also Richard (Stefan's middle name) and I also had open heart surgery".

The third sign was with a little bear named 'Casey' that the Knights of Columbus gave to Stefan. I really didn't think too much about the name at the time. Then after mass Father came over to talk to us about Stefan's heart condition bit more. I showed him the pin of Father Solanus on Stefan's baptism blanket (both given by great friends to Stefan in the NICU). Father said, "Yes, Father Solanus, Casey", he looked down at the bear we had just been given and said, that is who the bear 'Casey' is named after.

We have no doubt that God is trying to give us a sign to let us know he truly is watching over Stefan.




Hopefully the only time we will make Stefan wear a 'lace dress'!!! But it has such special meaning, his brother, father, nanna and beyond wore the same exact gown on their baptism day.









God parents, Merrill and Jay




















Grandparents:
Papa, Nanna, Bumpa, GG and Grandma




The "Bartaygro" Family

The "G" Family
Grandma's Clan
















God Bless Stefan today and always!

Bath Time for Baby!

Which G Boy is it??? Well guess the towel gives it away!

Looks like the G-Brothers are a mirror image!

(Bath picture on the top is Blake, Bottom is Stefan, both at 8 weeks)

How lucky we are to have two beautiful bathing boys!

Cider Mill Crazy!

We are working on setting a world record on cider mill visits in a one week time frame. We have been to the east side, the west side, with friends, with family, picked apples, decorated pumpkins, went on hay rides, ate WAY too many donuts and Blake took his first pony ride.
Stefan enjoyed all of the outdoor activity sleeping away in the bjorn.