Nov 30, 2011

one week

hard to believe she's already one week old.






how i love this little girl!

Nov 25, 2011

julia kathryn

we have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

  
julia kathryn 
arrived at 3:33am on 11.23.2011
8 lb 3 oz & 20 3/4 inches

we are all home and doing well.
thanks to you all who have sent us messages and congratulations. 
we are trying to enjoy every second of this very special time together -
so things may be quiet around this little blog for a bit.




we hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving
and wish you a festive start to the Christmas season!

Nov 21, 2011

102.7

no, i'm not talking about a radio station.
that was ben's temperature this morning at 7am when he woke up crying. 
poor little guy! 

so our week started out with a dose of tylenol.
a bed of blankets, pillows and a bean bag on the floor.
his favorite kid videos.
apple juice and dry corn pops.

i am thankful i already had a dr appt scheduled this afternoon and the dr was kind enough to take a look at ben too.
looks like it's a couple of days of rest, more tylenol and liquids.
hopefully we'll all be feeling well for thanksgiving.
and no - we still have no idea if baby sister will be here with us by then or not.
she seems to be content where she is for the moment.

after bath tonight we loaded ben up to go drive through our local Christmas light display in the park.


it was a nice way to relax and keep his mind off not feeling well.
(even though i still think it is nice to wait until after Thanksgiving to turn Christmas lights on)

gobble! gobble!
hope your thanksgiving week is off to a great start!

Nov 19, 2011

11.19.2005

six years...

  
happy anniversary jacob!
i'm the luckiest girl in the world.
always.

Nov 17, 2011

waiting...

not much new here...
just enjoying our time while we wait for baby sister to arrive.
all week i've been thinking "maybe it will be today" - obviously not.
we are kind of hoping she might decide to meet us over the weekend.
ben was born on a saturday and it was so nice!
but she also might surprise us by waiting until after her due date - the 25th.
throughout my pregnancy i've been planning she would arrive early,
because ben came 10 days early.
now i'm starting to think i could be wrong.  :)  we'll see!


Nov 14, 2011

in order

there are many things about ben that amaze and surprise me all the time.
i know there are many times that jake and i both look at each other and wonder -
"where did he come up with that?" or
find ourselves rolling in laughter at a comment like -
"that was a mysterious toot!" after he just tooted (very loudly) right in front of us.
i guess it's true that kids say the darndest things!

well not only does been say the darndest things - he also does the darndest things.
like the cling thanksgiving decorations on the front door.



i let him help me put them up and he will often spend time "reorganizing" them.
but just last week he was very focused on moving them around after lunch,
and told me he had to "put them in order" before his nap.



and that is how they still look right now!  ;)
in order.

happy monday!
we're looking forward to another week of getting things "in order",
and waiting for this baby to make her arrival.
here are some more fall pictures from our yard this weekend.
we still have a lot of leaf clean-up to look forward to...





have a wonderful week!

Nov 13, 2011

family friday

on friday we headed east to the city and out for a family day.
jake and i thought ben would like a day out with just mom and dad before sister arrives.
we did have just a couple of errands to run before getting to the "fun" stuff,
but ben didn't seem to mind too much...



especially once he found a mirror and entertained himself (and others) by dancing
while jake was trying on jeans.

after our two shopping stops at the mall we headed out for lunch.
ben's favorite place to go - wendy's.
chicken nuggets, fries and a frosty.
and after a quick bite we were off to another of ben's favorite places...
botanica.

we just had his birthday there in september, and he's been there one other time since with nanna.
but he just loves it - and so do jake and i.
all the fountains were turned off and the "kitchen was closed" (in the children's garden) -
two of ben's favorite things - but we still had a lovely time.
the weather was cool, but comfortable - a perfect fall day.










pretty soon it will be time for their big Christmas light display -
illuminations.
it's magical and i can't think of a better way to get in the spirit of the season.
if you live anywhere within driving distance - GO!

Nov 11, 2011

a few things

can't believe how quickly this week has gone!
here are a few pictures of what's been happening...

ben's favorite show lately - little einsteins.
so we made the printable characters and rocket.
fun and free!


he thinks they're pretty cool!


welcome goodies for two families with new babies.
muffins, bib sets with baby spoons, and a little something for the older sibling.
it felt wonderful to
sew!

fun to make and even more fun to deliver!
can't believe we're going to have one of those little people in our home any day now.
so exciting!!!

trying to do as much as possible - including a few little touches,
before baby arrives


 this quilt was jake's as a baby.
LOVE IT!
i stitched ribbon tabs along the top for hanging.


one of ben's favorite books at grandma's house arrived in the mail as the book of the month he receives through a program sponsored by one of our local banks.
it's fun to have a copy of it at our house now.


and some serious sorting and organizing that's been taking place to add a little
pink.


and speaking of organizing...
we've been busy trying to make better use of the space we have in our basement.
i don't have before pictures (truthfully - i would be embarrassed to show you what it used to look like!),
but here is the after.


we have now created a more open space for all to enjoy.
more room for play, room for sewing, and even extra room for guests.
it's a definite improvement!


today was spent in the city - just having some time together.
i'll post more about our fun day out later this weekend.
happy friday!

Nov 8, 2011

thankful

wow!  didn't mean to take quite this long of a break from posting.
but that's how things have gone lately...
the days are flying by and my computer time has become less and less as we hurry around getting ready for baby.

this last weekend was so nice though -
we had a three day weekend at home.
just the three of us.

and on sunday afternoon we went to the park for some family pictures.
i was incredibly thankful that on short notice we were able to have some lovely photos taken.
i really didn't think we had the time (or even the budget) to do so before our baby arrived,
but thanks to referral from a friend we were able to schedule a session with a local photographer -
and we were so happy with the results!


she's also a mom and a local resident in our small town.
she was able to squeeze us into her full schedule.
she was great to work with - even brought elmo!
and she quickly got our photos to us.
ben has been calling her "my new friend".
thank you so much stacie!
here's a quick sampling of some my favorites...






have a wonderful week!
i hope to share more of "what" we've been up to lately very soon.