Best Big Sister

Marin has been waiting and waiting for 'her' baby to arrive.  Today, she finally got to meet 'her best friend.'  We're hoping this level of love and enthusiasm lasts once we bring him home!

 Look at that face-she couldn't be happier!

Checking him out.

 Receiving a gift from her baby brother!  He's the best!

Birth Day

After much anticipation and excitement, the day finally arrived for us to go have 'Baby Brother.'  Jason and I went to the hospital on Sunday night (December 18th) to begin the induction.  Our doctor told us that we would have a baby by morning or sooner!  We were so excited about what the night and upcoming day would hold for us.  Here I am outside the hospital ready to go!

The induction didn't go quite as planned as the night nurse and on-call doctor ordered a different (less powerful) induction medicine for me.  When my doctor arrived Monday morning, he was upset that they had changed his orders and basically the medicine did nothing for me, so we were back a square one at 7:00 a.m. when we were hoping to have a baby in our arms.  :(  I was going nuts being in bed for so long.

They broke my water and started the pitocin around 7:30 a.m.  By 11:30 the contractions started coming pretty regularly and I asked for an epidural.  Unfortunately, the epidural takes a while to prep once you order it and I didn't end up getting it until about 12:45 p.m. and it came not a moment too soon!  ;)

Finally, after nine months of waiting and wondering, our sweet baby, Sloan David, arrived with all of his chunky glory at 5:57 p.m.  We couldn't believe it when they announced his stellar weight of 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 21.5 inches long. That is nearly two pounds heavier than his big sister Marin and a half-inch taller!

Here we are meeting each other for the first time....love at first sight!

Welcome to the world, Sloan!  We can't wait to watch you grow!

Forty weeks

Here I am on my due date. I can hardly wait to meet my little man!

It still amazes me that one day a baby can be living in your belly and the next sleeping in your arms. It's such an awesome experience to become a mommy again!

Santa Baby

The tree is up, the presents are wrapped and this sassy little elf can't wait for the action to begin!  My  mom arrived on the 10th and we're scheduled to have the baby on the 19th!  We're about a week away from becoming a family of FOUR and we can hardly wait!  In the meantime, this Santa Baby is getting as much attention and love as we can give her before she officially becomes a big sister.  

Seeing Santa

We visited Santa in the park this year and fortunately Marin was willing to go sit on his lap under one condition:  "Santa, please don't say, 'Ho, Ho, Ho!'"  Santa promised he wouldn't do that and so she climbed right up!  Here she's showing Santa that she has white gloves just like him!

 A red hat too!

 "Please don't say, HO! HO! HO!"

 Telling Santa that she'd really like Thomas the Train for Christmas.

 Checking out the petting zoo after seeing Santa.

 Holding a little chick.

 Snuggling with Grabby before heading home for hot chocolate!  Yum!

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Marin and her best buddy are practicing for their dance recital.  If you need a song stuck in your head, this one is perfect!  We've been singing it for a month now!  I love this video of our little Christmas dancer!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIFJQ5YVHX8

Zippy the Elf

Christmas is always magical when little kids are involved, but this year was extra magical for us because a very special elf named Zippy came to live with us!  Zippy was always watching making sure that we were making good choices.  Each night Zippy would fly off to see Santa at the North Pole and reappear in the morning in a new spot.  Zippy was clever.  Each morning Marin woke up with such excitement to search for him.  We will anxiously await Zippy's return next December!

 "Zippy, where are you??  I FOUND you!!"

A farewell note from Zippy telling Marin that he will come back to see her next year!  She was devastated that he had to leave.