Julia's High School Graduation

 Julia graduated high school from St. Ignatius!  We are so very proud of her and all of her accomplishments.  She is such a bright, smart, loving girl who has really grown into a wonderful woman.  She will be attending Iowa this fall and plans to study psychology.

This summer she is living with her mom and step-dad in the suburbs and working at a chemical company in their paid internship program.  She works from 6:30am until 3pm Monday - Friday and is really enjoying her new job.  She is very dedicated and such a hard worker.  We know this will look great on her resume too.

Pictures:

The first 4 pictures are from Julia's Baccalaureate at Holy Family Church.  Julia and Ethan went to dinner with their step-dad at Tuscany before the service.  Craig, Grayson, Marta (our nanny) and I went to Sapori Trattoria before and met everyone at the service.    

Ethan's Graduation from Fire Science

Ethan took a fire science class this year and really enjoyed it.  They taught him all the basic skills to be a fireman and he graduated from the class.  Ethan is so talented and we are so proud of him and all of his accomplishments.  He recently took the ACT and got a 29, but is re-taking the test in June.  Craig and Ethan looked at University of Colorado-Boulder this summer and it's Ethan's top school so far.  He is going to look at some schools in California as well.  Ethan will be a senior next year.

Liam ~ 24 Week Ultrasound & Belly Pictures

I'm 24 weeks and the countdown to BABY BRAHAM #2 is on...16 more weeks!  It's finally becoming real.  

We decided on a name...

~ L I A M ~

~ R I C H A R D ~

Liam is a name we both love (Daddy did not love it when I first brought it up a while ago, but now he loves it and doesn't remember not loving it.  ha ha :)  We think it goes great with Grayson too.  Richard is after Craig's dad, Richard Howard Braham.  He's a great man and we love him so much and wanted to honor him.  Grayson's middle name is after my dad so we thought it was very fitting.  We are very excited to have the name picked out so we can start calling him by his name.  

~ Goldenview Ultrasound ~

We did another 4-D ultrasound at Goldenview Ultrasound and got some great pictures, although he wasn't cooperating at first.  He was putting his legs by his head and blocking his cute little face.  I'm not sure why he was squished so much when he still has plenty of room, but maybe he is comfortable that way.  It looks painful to me.  Our little Liam is such a cutie already and we can't wait to meet him.  He gave us quite a show with the spread leg shot so we got a good laugh.  Our little guy is very active just like his big brother Grayson.  

~ 24 Months ~

My belly is getting so big.  Liam has been moving around a lot more.  It's funny because my BFF Allison was the first one to feel Grayson move from the outside and the same is true with Liam.  She felt a tiny kick while we were staying with her and Craig was out of town.  When Daddy got back from visiting Mimi and Papa he felt baby Liam give a little kick too.  He loved it and was so excited!  

I can't believe I'm almost in my 3rd trimester.  The time is flying by.  In 3 weeks I will be 27 weeks and officially in my 3rd trimester.  I'm looking forward to this as the baby can most likely survive in the outside world at this stage.  If he is anything like his brother he will not want to come out anytime soon.  I feel great other than being a little tired.  My nesting instinct has kicked in and combined with my organizing OCD it's driving Craig a little crazy.  The house is already very, very organized, but of course I had to reorganize a couple more things.  There is nothing left to organize now other than the bedrooms for Grayson and Liam.  Liam's room will be easy to change as I'm keeping the same theme, but Grayson's new room will take a little while as I'm still working on the details.  I will be moving Grayson into Ethan's room, Liam into Grayson's room and Julia's room will become her room when she's visiting from college/Ethan's room every other weekend/guest room.  (Julia moved out to live with her mom for the summer because of her internship and then will be moving to college in August.)  Liam will take over the nursery so there are only a few things that need to be changed including the pictures in the collage, circle letters on the wall and some monogramed blankets.  I already bought the monogrammed blanket for Liam that my friend Christy got for Grayson (orange minky dot on one side and gray and white chevron on the other side with his name written in white).  Our friend Diane gave Grayson a gray small Pottery Barn chair with his name on it and a blanket to match.  She mentioned she is doing the same for Liam so we are very excited.  Grayson's new room with be the same colors as his old room with the addition of blue (gray, white, orange and blue) and decorated with vintage airplanes.  I'll do a whole post on the new rooms soon.

~ 24 Week Doctor Appointment ~

My doctor appointment went well.  He is measuring a 1/2 week big, but that is normal.  We decided on my c-section date...September 1st.  It's a Tuesday and my doctor would be the one to deliver as that is her hospital day.  She told me to register for the hospital and they will take care of scheduling the c-section.  How crazy!  I can't believe I only have 16 more weeks (actually15 more weeks because my c-section will be almost a week before my due date of September 6th).  My next doctor appointment is June 8th for my 27 week appointment and glucose test.

~ Pictures ~

What BabyCenter says about 24 weeks:

Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at about 1 1/3 pounds. Since he's almost a foot long (about the size of an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

Julia's Prom

Julia went with James to her senior prom.  Her friend Kay hosted a pre-party at the top floor of her condo building.  The view was amazing and the kids all had a great time.  Julia looked absolutely beautiful.  She had her makeup and hair done and had the most gorgeous red dress.  The prom was hosted at UIC and the after party was at her school.  We can't believe this is her last high school prom.    

Bryan & Lauren's Wedding

We celebrated Bryan and Lauren's wedding in Bloomington/Normal.  A lot of family came into town so it was so much fun hanging out with everyone.  Grayson loved playing with his cousins Tommy, Lilly and Aidan.  Thursday night we went to a restaurant called Medici for the rehearsal dinner.  The wedding was Friday, May 15th at 5:15pm at the Ewing Cultural Center in Bloomington.  The ceremony was outside on the lawn of a beautiful castle like structure.  The ceremony was very short and sweet and ended with us chanting Ommm to the happy new couple.  Towards the end of the ceremony it looked like a bad storm was coming and luckily it held off until about 5 minutes after the ceremony ended.  Afterwards we went to Epiphany Farms for the wedding reception.  It was held at a cute restaurant that features local grown food.  It was such a great weekend filled with lots of laughs and fun stories.  We are very happy to welcome Lauren to the family.  Bryan and Lauren are so in love and such a cute, happy couple.  Congrats to them on their marriage and we wish them a long life filled with happiness and laughter.