All of God's grace in one sweet face!

It so hard to believe that Laila is a month old now! She has been doing great overall, with the exception of some rough nights and some diaper explosions which is to be expected! :) She has grown so much, especially in this past week it seems! She is probably around 9 1/2 - 10 pounds now (she was 7 pounds when we left the hospital). She truly is the most amazing gift from God we have ever received. We feel so blessed to be her parents. We can't wait for you all to meet her!

We have had some more visitors in the past few weeks. Laila's great grandparents (Papa & Mary Alice Phelps) and her great aunt and uncle (Cathy & Bob Lail) came to meet her for the first time. Laila even got her first pair of diamond earrings and cross necklace from her great grandparents! Nate's mom stayed with us for a few days. She was a huge help with making meals, cleaning, changing diapers and loving on Laila! Joy's sister also came to visit for a few days. She brought her brand new adorable puppy, so we got to take care of our babies together! We have made so many special memories with Laila and our family already and we are looking forward to the million more to come!

If you called or emailed us these past few weeks and we never got back with you, we hope you understand. Please try calling us again now that things are starting to settle down a bit. We are really enjoying the time with just the 3 of us, but we would still love to have visitors if you are up for the trip!

Enjoy the pictures below of Laila with her grandma, great grandparents, aunt, cousins, and of course, Mommy & Daddy! I posted more pics on Snapfish as well.

Laila's first week at home!

I absolutely LOVE being a mom, especially to my sweet little Laila! I know my journey through motherhood has just begun but I am ready for the adventure! Being a mother has been the desire of my heart ever since I was a little girl. When people would ask me when I was younger what do you want to be when you grow up, I always said that I wanted to be a wife and a mother. God has given me both of these strong desires of my heart and I am so thankful. I have been blessed with an amazing Godly man as my husband, and now I have the sweetest and cutest daughter I could of ever asked for. I know that there will be good days and bad days and that we may go through many ups and downs and twists and turns in this life as a family, but I know that we will make it through anything as long as we rely on God and we have eachother. It is also so comforting knowing we have an amazing extended family and wonderful friends that are always there for us.

Even though we are exhausted and are still getting the hang of things, Laila's first week at home has been so much fun. She is already changing and growing each day, and we are trying to treasure every moment. Nate is such a good dad already. I know Laila will be daddy's little girl! She loves snuggling up on his chest to fall asleep. She likes to save her dirty diapers and explosions for him too!!! :) My mom and I have had to laugh so many times this week because it seems that Nate gets stuck with the really big messes to clean up and has already been squirted a few times when she hadn't quite gotten everything out of her system! Early in the pregnancy I gave him a "Daddy's Tools of the Trade" diaper tool belt to get him prepared for all the stinky diapers, which included gloves, goggles, a nose plug, etc.!! He hasn't needed it though...he is already the master diaper changer and has changed her more than I have in this first week! I had to brag because I love him so much and am very thankful for him!

Below are some pictures of Laila during her first week at home, including some visits by family and friends. I will try to post all of these pictures on Snapfish soon for those of you that would like to order some. Anytime you want to see the pictures, you can click on The Schuck Family on Snapfish under the Pictures column on the right hand side of our blog, or go to the following website. http://theschuckfamily.snapfish.com/snapfish

Four Generations!

It means so much to me to be able to share the birth of my first daugther with my mother and my grandmother! I'm looking forward to making many special memories with all of us in the future and taking many more pictures like this as Laila grows up. Laila already loves her Grammy and Great Nana so much!!!

More pics from Laila's birth

I can't believe a week has already flown by! Laila has been an angel! She seems so content. We could just stare at her all day long not wanting to miss a thing! My mom has been here with us this past week to help out as we are settling in with our new daughter at home. Nate and I are SO grateful for all of her help! Laila is very blessed to have wonderful grandparents! I know she will be very loved and pampered throughout her life, especially since she is the first grandchild and niece on both sides (as well as the first great grandchild on my side)!!!

We wanted to say thank you to everyone that has sent emails, flowers, cards, and posted comments on the blog! Your congratulations, thoughts, and prayers have meant so much to us. We hope you'll continue to enjoy our updates on Laila as she continues to grow and change each week. Sorry if we haven't been good about returning phone calls this past week, but the days really do seem to fly by!

Below are more pictures with family that made it up for Laila's birth (sorry we didn't get pictures of everyone)! We know it wasn't easy getting a call at 1:30-2:00 a.m. and then driving 4 hours just to wait until 2:00 p.m. for her arrival, but we know that it was well worth it to all of you to see her in those first hours of her life! Nate and I are so grateful that you made the sacrifice to be there for us during this very special time in our lives. We love you!

Laila Grace Schuck - born June 2, 2008

Our little blessing is here! After 17 hours of natural childbirth (my wife is now my new hero!), Joy delivered our little baby girl into this world on June 2, 2008! We are so happy to announce that Laila Grace Schuck is here and we can't wait for you all to meet her! She was 7 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 inches long. She is healthy and happy, and we are so in love! We are very glad that we chose Grace has her middle name because she is definitely a blessing from God!

Thank you for all of your prayers and support over these past 9 months! We hope to see you soon. If any of you would like to come visit us, please don't feel like you will be a burden. We would love to see you and for you to share in this special time in our lives right now. I know it is a long drive for some of you, but it would mean the world to us for you to make the trip! We love you all and thank the Lord for the blessing each of you are to our family! We'll be posting more pictures in the days to come so keep checking back.

God Bless,
Nate