The GAG Aunties

AJ Turner, Cameron Pray, Luke VanGinkel, & Hayden Ganyo





For those of you who are unfamiliar, GAG is the nickname given to our group of friends who met for bible study throughout college. I'm not sure how we got the name but it stands for "Girls Accountability Group". We've had a GAG weekend for 9 years now and this year we combined it with a "Meet the Baby Shower" for Natalie.

These girls bless my life in countless ways. Although we are spread all throughout California we find ways to stay connected. Everyone was able to come down to meet Natalie this June, which meant so much to us. The girls encouraged me and loved on Natalie and I.

Thank you sweet friends. I could have never imagined all those years ago when we first started meeting together that God would use you all in such powerful ways in my life.

LOVE THIS BABY!

Natalie is two months old!

Meet Natalie Shower

My sweet friend Lachelle gave Natalie and I a wonderful shower that made us (well, me at least) feel very loved and refreshed. Thank you girls! Here are some pics.

A couple of my friends from high school were able to come. It has been fun to reconnect with them. These three all have babies.
We just know that Macy and Natalie will be great friends and have all sorts of fun adventures together like Jessica and I did. We also hope they will be able to grow in the LORD and encourage one another the way we have. Love you Jess!

CAMILLE

This past month we have had a 15 year old girl from France staying with us. We got connected with Camille through a French friend I went to seminary with. Camille wanted to come spend a month in an English speaking home in exchange for helping with the kids and house.
We just sent Camille back to France last night and we were sad to see her go. She is such a sweet girl and we were thankful for her time in our home.
At first it was difficult to communicate but Camille quickly picked up on how to help with the girls and house and her English (and confidence) kept improving. Sometimes in the car, Noelle would ask Camille different words in French and we got a good laugh from all her attempts to pronounce the words.
It was crazy having a teenage girl in our home (thinking that's going to be here before we know it :)) but we would love to have girls something like Camille.

Thank you Camille for all of the help and good conversation. You are very smart and thoughtful. We are so proud of how you tried new things and new foods without complaint. You also handled the challenges of two little ones very well. We hope you have a wonderful rest of your summer and can take away a lot from this past month. May you continue to grow in wisdom and love.

*Your next challenge is to translate this for your parents so they can read it!

Summer's Here!

Natalie Belle

I don't know where it came from but I just have to call Natalie my little Belle Belle or Natalie Belle. It just seems to fit :).

My sweet little Natalie is almost 7 weeks. Time seems to be moving quicker with Natalie and I try to sneak as many moments to just savor her as I can. I want to soak up the littleness and her sweet little newborn breath. It seems that every time I take her in public and pull her out of the stroller I get a response of awe from someone nearby. It's as if it's such a surprise that anyone is ever that small. I love it.

Natalie is such a smiley little girl. After I feed her in the middle of the night she always gives me some big smiles that remind me how sweet it is to be doing this again. I can't wait for you all to meet her.

Andrew's 1st Birthday

My cousin Lindsay's little boy Andrew turned one last week and these are pictures from the party. I just realized that I don't have any pictures with Andrew in them so here's one just to show his cute little face

Fun with Noelle!

Here is a picture from our recent trip to the park where Noelle and Ryan like to go and "hike." The last couple of times they rode their bike there. It was really nice except for the sign I saw that says "Rattlesnake Habitat" as we were walking out.

This past year, Noelle and I have attended "kid's class" (that's what we call it) at the community center. It's a toddler play time that has been really fun for Noelle.

Big Smile!

I don't have much time to write but I caught this big smile of Natalie's. The past couple of mornings she is really alert and locks eyes with me and has given me a couple smiles. She is so tiny and so precious. We are really enjoying her and Noelle is doing really well too.

Mother's Day

Two!

Great Grandma B

Grandma and the girls

Four generations

Grandma Hoo Hoo (my grandma Joan)

My two most precious little girls - amazing

The Mother's Day after I miscarried our first pregnancy, my heart was heavy wondering if I would have the priviledge of being a mother. Up until that point I had understood very little about the longing that a woman knows if she desires to be a mother and cannot be. That year I had a glimpse into that sorrow.

I was in LA for a cross-cultural counseling class where we attended church Sunday morning at FAME (First African Methodist Episcopal Church). A beautiful message was preached about the mothering qualities of God reflected in a woman that are epressed in a multitude of ways by all women, whether or not you have biological children. After the service, I was warmly greeted by men and women of all ages who hugged me and said, "Happy Mother's Day." Each and every woman was. It was beautiful. God's loving kindness expressed to me once more.

It has been three years and I know that this gift of two beautiful girls is very precious. I think about that day every Mother's Day, knowing that my life is richer for having experienced it. Reminded also of the ways that we as women can "mother" in so many ways and to so many people in our lives.

Aunt Aly and Grandma Julie

Aunt Aly and Grandma Julie came to visit for a couple of days after Natalie was born. They took Noelle to do some fun things which gave me some good time alone with Natalie. It was really nice to have some time with them and I was surprised that I felt coherent and able to actually enjoy visiting. Thanks for visiting you two!

Ryan has been such a huge help. This first week has gone really smoothly. I couldn't imagine if I was on my own. Noelle and Ryan have adventured all around town. It's amazing how much calmer we are with a second baby but of course you have the challenge of a toddler in the mix that keeps you on your toes :).

Baby Natalie and Big Sister (3 days old)

SHE'S HERE!

Natalie Kelly McCarty
Born at Hoag Hospital Newport Beach
9:10 am
7.7 lbs
20 inches

We are so overjoyed at her arrival and love having her here in our arms. The labor and delivery really could not have gone better. Our thanks to God after concern along the way. The nurse actually commented, "your body was made to do this" which was so nice after months of thinking the opposite.

Natalie is just the sweetest little thing and has been doing excellent. I'm feeling really good, just tired of course :). Noelle is so excited about baby sister.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support! She's a beautiful gift from God.

Here are the pictures many of you have been waiting for!

Noelle's "New New Room"

We decided to move Noelle into a new room and put baby sister in her old room, using all of the baby stuff. Noelle's not ready (or at least I'm not) to move into her big girl bed yet so we moved the crib into the room and baby sister will sleep in a bassinet for a while. Noelle really likes her new room so I thought I would show you all some pictures of it.

Not yet...

I didn't want anyone to think that we had forgotten to contact you about the baby being born. She just hasn't come yet. With all of the contractions that I had throughout the pregnancy there was concern of her coming early but it is obvious now that they were not something to worry about. Even though they are still coming frequently and much stronger now, they are not putting me into labor. I am now less than a week from my due date. We'll keep you all posted! We can't wait to meet her!

Our Big Two Year Old

Below is Noelle doing a pose, which she says, "Oooh, that's tricky tricky."
Each stage is so fun. Recently her little imagination is beginning to work and play is taking on new forms. She loves to sing. In this video, she came up to my computer chair and began singing like this. At first I wondered what she was doing, was it a complaint or a silly noise... Oh, she's singing! I had to grab the camera fast and catch this. Well, at least she comes by her singing talent honestly.



A funny story:
A couple days ago my mom was watching Noelle and was trying to get her to eat some lunch. This child has also inherited our sweet tooth and has obviously recognized what has sugar in it. This is how their conversation went:

Noelle: "Need Jelly (Gelly) Beans"
Mom: "You can't have jelly beans until you eat some of your lunch."
My mom opens one of her cupboards and Noelle sees a container of Andes Mints.
Noelle: "Hooray, Hooray, you found ca-co-let!"
Mom: "Noelle, you can't have any chocolate until you eat some lunch."
Noelle: Begins to whine and get sad, "You need a vitamin"
Mom: I don't have any vitamins.
Noelle: "You need Tylenol"
Mom: "I don't have any tylenol"
Noelle: "You need mommy" - by now very distraught.

Baby Pool

I am just over two weeks away from my due date (May 8th) and so incredibly thankful. Everyone is a little surprised at the thought of me making it to my due date or beyond but I'm so glad to be on this end of the pregnancy. The possibility of her coming late was just a dream for all those months when I was so worried about her coming too early.

I really have no idea when she's going to come. We are so excited to meet her though. I started this baby pool if anyone wants to join. I'm trying to come up with a prize for the winner. Here is the link to the baby pool:

http://www.expectnet.com/games/mccarty

The Party

The party was really great. Definitely a hotter than normal day for April but we had some good shade. Thanks to my mom doing most of the food, I didn't have to stress too much before hand and I cannot even say how great it was to enjoy the party without worrying about "over doing it", now that I'm past 36 weeks.
Noelle seemed to have a lot of fun. The bubble wrap (wrapper pop - as Noelle calls it) that my brother brought her was a big distraction during present opening. It is so funny how I get cute party favors to play with and she has all these great presents to open but she's obsessed with the water balloons and bubble wrap.
It was really fun to have so many friends and family with us. It was also fun to have it at Halecrest Park, where my brother and I had countless birthday parties!