New tricks

Owen discovered the "splits" tonight...He was quite excited about his little trick.

And Lilly was busy watching the mobile today.

In Action...

Lilly has been becoming more alert this week. She is staying awake more, enjoying looking around, excercising her arms and legs, and starting to experiment with her little voice.

Owen is never ending energy. He leaves a trail wherever he goes. He also loves to be my little helper. Whatever mommy is doing, he wants to do too. This morning while he was eating breakfast, I started unwrapping caramels to make some turtles. All of a sudden, eating oatmeal lost its appeal. As soon as he was finished, Owen hopped up on my chair to help mommy with her task. At first he just wanted to eat them, but then he got the hang of it quite well. He probably ended up unwrapping almost half the bag for me.

Yesterday at lunch, Jimmy spotted a cardinal out our kitchen window. Owen watched and watched it until it flew away. When the bird flew away, Owen turned around at asked for "more."

Oh, and by the way, I've graduated....

from "mama" to "mommee."

Looking their Sunday best

After several attempts over the past 3 weeks, we still haven't been able to get that "really good" brother-sister picture. But the kiddos looked so cute in their green corduroy outfits today that I wanted to give it another try. Here's today's attempts:

Owen was more ready for a nap than to take pictures. So we laid him down and got a few pictures of Lilly Grace. Isn't she so sweet?!?

Pre-Christmas fun

While I was wrapping the last couple gifts this weekend, Owen went in the other room--only to come out a minute later victoriously waving the end of a roll of wrapping paper behind him. He had a ball playing with his findings and it kept him occupied long enough for me to finish my wrapping.

Sweet baby of mine

Lillian Grace is already 2 weeks old...hard to believe.

Last week at her 1 week check up she had surpassed her birth weight and weighed in at 8 lbs 11 oz---she's a beautiful healthy growing girl! Can't imagine life without her!

Daddy's Helper

We bought a new stove a couple weeks ago, and Jimmy had to convert it over from natural gas to LP. Owen was more than excited to help out with the job. They were quite the team!

Thank you, Mom/Grandma!

Last week, Mom came down for several days to help us with the transition from one to two. She was such a wonderful help....playing with Owen while I fed Lilly, cuddling with Lilly while I spent time with Owen, making meals, keeping the house clean, keeping me company, and so much more! Thanks for all your help, Mom!

Here's a few shots from the week:

Since Saturday...

if you were to stop by our house, this is what you would find Owen occupied by:

He LOVES the barn and animal set he received at the Hankins Family Christmas this weekend.

THANK YOU GREAT GRANDMA HANKINS!

Pretty Little Lilly, Proud Big Owen

Our first 24 hours at home as a family of four has been more smooth than I could have asked for. For starters, a good nights sleep!! Lilly was amazing last night! She finished nursing around 11:30 pm, and didn't wake up to eat again until 6:15 am. Like I said, AMAZING!! Our morning was spent just being together as a family, taking turn playing with Owen and cuddling with Lilly. They are both just so precious! We are definitely blessed!

Here's a few pictures of our little ones. And, the best part is, I didn't even stage the ones of the two of them! Owen wanted up on the couch, so I helped him up. He sat there with me while we talked and he ate his raisins. Every once in a while, he'd reach over to give his baby sis a hug or kiss.

At the Hospital

Proud Daddy

Proud Mommy

Proud Big Brother

Cousins

Meet Lillian Grace

Lilly arrived at 10:44 am Monday, November 29th! She weighed 8 lbs 8 1/4 oz. She's 20 1/2 inches long. She's absolutely PRECIOUS!!

The cliff notes of labor:

My water broke at 5 am with a "POP!" (Thankfully, after a good night's sleep!)

We arrived at the hospital at 8:15. I was dialated to 7.

Before 9:00, I was between an 8 and 9.

At 9:30, a nurse had me start pushing---but we weren't making progress, so I took a break and worked through a few contractions.

At 10:15ish, I started pushing again.

She arrived healthy at 10:44!!

Still no Lilly

Well, Lilly has officially past her "due date."

Exactly what I hoped wouldn't happen...and really didn't expect to happen after going early with Owen.

But as they say: "Every pregnancy is different." and "The baby will come when she's ready."

Induction Date = December 7th

(but hopefully that can be avoided and she will come on her own by then)

Here's the belly shot:

The Unexpected

Owen and I made a quick stop at Dollar General on the way home from the Y this morning. We made our purchases, headed to the van to load up and go home. I was just putting the key in the ignition and buckling up when I looked up and saw this little elderly lady with a couple big bags in her hands waving me down, asking me to wait. I quickly thought over what I had brought in the store and couldn't think of anything that I might have left or dropped...believe it or not, I've been known to leave things behind before. :) I rolled down my window and she began digging around in one of her bags with a big grin. "Where is it?" she muttered under her breath.

A second or two later and she looked up at me and sort of strained her neck to look towards Owen saying, "I saw your little guy eye-ing something in there and I just couldn't resist," and pulled out a toy truck. "Happy Thanksgiving," she said.

How sweet....she made both Owen and I's day. :)

Shapes

Sorry, I forgot and shot this sideways.

When Momma is sick...

Owen gets a play day with Daddy!!

...doing "boy" things...

you know, like watching tractors and animals on youtube.

Jimmy took yesterday off work because I was up all night with the flu and in no shape to be taking care of Owen. I slept pretty much all day, and the boys played. Owen had a blast having Daddy around all day to dote on him. I kept hearing "Dada, dada" whenever I'd wake up enough to hear them playing. I'm thankful they had the extra time together. I think Jimmy enjoyed being "Mr. Mom."

Thankfully, Lilly is waiting to make her grand debut until I get better. I can't imagine trying to go through labor at the same time as fighting the flu. Hopefully, now I'm on the up-swing and she can come sometime Thanksgiving week! Pray the rest of our family stays healthy for her arrival.

New Nook

Here's Owen sitting on top of his new toy box. For about an hour this morning he's been getting books and climbing on top of the big box to look at his book of choice.

Just Dance

Tonight Owen finished eating supper before us and wandered into the living room. The TV was playing music videos and we looked over to find Owen dancing away.

Here's his latest move:

Playdough

Today we made playdough. Now, don't let these pictures give you the wrong impression. Eventhough we did get to some rolling and patting, his default activity while playing with the playdough was trying to eat it. :) ...always followed with an ugly face of disgust at the saltiness of it.

Mohawk

It took a while to come in, but Owen now has a nice head of blonde hair. Daddy was having some fun with it in the bathtub tonight.

"Ice"

I think Owen likes our new refrigerator as much as I do. His favorite feature is the ice coming out of the dispenser on the door. Whenever he hears someone dispensing ice/water out of it, he comes running to watch. Recently, he started asking for "ice"....ALL the time! Don't worry, we give him TINY pieces of crushed ice that practically melt as soon as he gets them to he mouth.

The footage on this video isn't the greatest, but it was the best I could get last night. He was sooo wiggly and kept getting waaay to close to the camera.

Here's a few things to "decode" in this video:

1. His reference to "hand"--clenching his hands. We were reading a book earlier in the evening with a hand in it and this was his way to sign "hand."

2. His newest word- "ice"

3. "mees"--is his current "please". It's a combination for "more" and "please" right now....we'll get there :)

All Bundled Up

Who could resist?