Proud Big Brother

Nate is such a proud big brother - he asks all the time if he can feed her, and he does a really good job! I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop because we have been so lucky so far with Lila's eating/sleeping and Nate's adjusting! I'm sure there are some challenging times ahead, but we are truly blessed!

Pink-a-licious!

My life has turned a shade of pink...I just never knew how pink it would be! She is precious and I'm beginning to have a new fondness of the color.

Before leaving the hospital yesterday...

Meeting Emily for the first time!

Wonder if she will continue in Nate's footsteps and call my mom Debbie or if she will go with Nana.

We have a similar picture of Nate in this bouncy making the same face - I'll have to find it. They look alike at times, but really, not so much. She is definitely her own little person!

We got home yesterday afternoon and are doing well. The first night went about as expected but it certainly did not seem as stressful as Nate's first night. Excited to start learning about what works for Lila so we can all be the most comfortable!

She's Here!

She's Here! Lila DeLaney Boyle was born at 8:50 AM on 11/26/10. She weighs 8 lbs and is 20 3/4 inches long. And absolutely perfect I might add.

Her entrance into this world was smooth, much smoother than Nate's! I will write about her birth story later.

I have not dressed her up yet, but she did change hats a few times yesterday. I am looking forward to playing dress up today!

Nate wasn't too sure about her at first, but quickly warmed up. He was helping Scott change her diaper here...he wasn't too sure about that either. I think it entailed more than he bargained for.

Mimi, Paka, Aunt Amanda, Noah & Gavin made the trek from GA to see baby Lila. They are troopers!

Blonde hair - crazy!

More later! Thanks to all for the many prayers and well wishes - we are so excited to welcome Lila to our family!

Thanksgiving Eve Update

I'm still here and still pregnant. There really is no reason why I should have had this baby by now - I'm not technically overdue until Saturday - but I guess we all thought I would, which results in a lovely limbo-ish state of being. Nate was 5 days early, so I've officially been pregnant with this little bundle of joy longer. Girls.

I wanted Scott to take one last picture of me this morning just in case the big day is today. Yes, I have pictures from all stages of this pregnancy, but I'm just not compelled to show them on my blog :) Gotta love the puffy face that pregnancy brings in the last few weeks! But since this one contained my cute little counterpart, I thought I could get away with it.

I go to the doctor today. We'll see if she has anything great and wonderful to say. Probably not, but I'll go through the motions anyway.

And we will continue with our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow - just the 3 of us because I don't think I would feel comfortable even traveling an hour away! We have so much to be thankful for this year - most of all our 2 beautiful children. We hope we get to meet part 2 soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Legos, Baby Sister & Thanksgiving

Nate loves his Legos. And sometimes I spend lots of time worrying that he is overindulged with the Legos. But then I take time to sit down with him while he is building Legos by himself. The overindulgence just might be worth it. It is so neat to see him be able to build creations by himself using the instructions. His little mind just clicks as he works away. He does get frustrated at times, but always seems to work through it. Building Legos has definitely increased his manual dexterity, which is helping with his handwriting as well as his ability to think outside the box. Not to mention the countless hours of imagination play that he does after the creations are built. I like Legos because they are not trendy - Scott's Legos from 25 years ago look just the same. And hopefully e-Bay will still be around when we want to sell Nate's in 25 years...who am I kidding?? Do you think they would really let me sell them??

Well, Baby Sister is still in there. So much for me thinking that she was going to come early. I guess technically she could still come a little early, as I am not 40 weeks until Friday. But I really thought she was going to come this weekend - so much for thinking. Scott had to be out of town for work, so my mom came and hung out with us this weekend. No action on the baby front, although I sure thought something was happening on Saturday. Zilch. What a tease. One thing I do know is that she will come on her own perfect timing.

So in the mean time, I've cleaned everything I can clean, and even some places that I don't normally clean - like why I was possessed to pour bleach down the sink drains this morning, ya know, cause there might be something nasty down there that needed disinfecting. And I've laundered everything that would sit still long enough - even the cat got a bath last week. And I've packed and re-packed everyone's bag. And I've discussed every possible scenario of her arrival with Scott including if she came at 2:04 PM on Tuesday (Not kidding. It has gotten to that point.)

So to say we are ready is an understatement - but perfect timing is perfect timing, can't argue with it. And now I'm on to thinking about Thanksgiving dinner because I have a sweet almost 5-year old that is very interested in turkey, gravy and of course pumpkin pie. My mom educated him about the Pilgrims & the Mayflower this weekend (thanks to Charlie Brown and a book from the History museum - they don't learn about this is school anymore? Must not be politically correct?) So even though we might be at the hospital on Thanksgiving, Nate is going to eat his turkey and his 2nd pumpkin pie - thankfully I have a healthier recipe than regular pumpkin pie!

Check back for baby sister updates. Or rants of insanity. If she waits too much longer, there are sure to be both in the near future.

Nate: Overheard

Nate cracks me up. Plain & simple. A few conversations of recent note:

I picked Nate up from school and as we were getting in the car, I told him that I missed him a lot that day. He said, "Well Mom, you know how you can make that better?" How Nate? "Well, you could keep me home with you on school days." Yes, I could sweet boy, I sure wish I could.

Nate and I were eating dinner (Scott wasn't home yet) and I asked him if he was ready for baby sister to arrive. He said he was. Then we moved on to the fact that he had a bad dream the night before and Dad had to come check on him. He didn't remember the encounter so I said he must not have woken up. He said, "Well Mom, when baby sister arrives, you have to wake me up so I can give her a bottle in the middle of the night." I told him that Scott & I would handle thoe middle of the night feedings because he needed his sleep too. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (begins wimpering), I have to be able to feed her in the middle of the night!!" Seeing that I wasn't going to say the right thing no matter what I said, I just said, "Okay Nate, we'll talk about it later." Moving on...

Scott grew a beard recently (love it. not). He was reading Nate's books one night and he leaned over to give him some kisses. Nate said, "Dad, what's with all the loooove?" So Scott started kissing him more to which Nate responded with, "Dad, what's with all the beardness?" Scott shaved off the beard the next day. Thanks Nate, appreciate it.

Getting Married

Nate has always been a favorite of the ladies at school. I like to think this is because he is sweet to them and non-violent compared to some of the other boys in his class. I hope the girls will always like him because he is sweet to them :)

Anyway, there is a little girl S. that Nate is very close to at school. They have been in the same class since Nate started there at 18 months. S is smitten with Nate. So much so that S's dad told Scott at a recent birthday party that he was so glad that the feeling from Nate was mutual because he was beginning to think S was a stalker.

One day last week, I arrived to pick up Nate when he was having snack. S was sitting so close to him that if she had been sitting any closer, she would have been on his lap. Before Nate really acknowledged me, he asked S to hold his cup while he poured some juice. Just like an old married couple. The teacher came up to me at this moment and told me that S had told Nate that day that they were going to get married.

Nate responded matter of factly, "No. We're Not. I have to go to college first."

Friends

I was so excited when my friend Tasha called last week to say they would be in Chesterfield on Friday...and did we want to meet them at Chick-fil-A and go to the playground? Heck yeah! It had been a while since we've seen them and I was beyond thrilled that we were going to get together.

Tasha & Joe have 3 kiddos, the youngest of which I had sadly not met yet, so this visit was extra special. Nate really took to Hannah and it warmed my heart that he liked following her around making sure she didn't hurt herself.

Tasha's oldest, Julia - can't believe she is 6 already!

Sweet Hannah - she is a busy one!

And my sweet boy, with his blue eyes. I wish he would have stayed this way a little longer for me to get a closer shot of how blue his eyes were!

Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of Cody, Tasha's middle one OR of me & Tasha! We will just have to get together a little quicker next time! So glad we got to meet up with you all!

Japanese Maple Tree + Handsome Boy

Friday was probably our last day in the 70s this fall. We are into the 50s today, but it is still quite pleasant and it is November, so it should be getting colder. I told Nate that he should wear shorts because it was most likely the last day he would get to until next spring.

We walked out of the house and the Japanese Maple tree in our front yard was so pretty that I suggested we take some pictures. Nate happily agreed, so I quickly got the camera before he changed his mind! I think it helped that I agreed to let him take my picture too. No - those will not be showing up on the blog. I'm pretty much in a no-publish zone for pictures until after the baby is born!

Nate not only looks big to me in these pictures, he looks older. So tall, lean and handsome instead of just cute. At least I think so!

It was a good thing we took the pictures of the tree on Friday! The wind has taken care of most of the leaves today, sadly!

Spaghetti Art

We had spaghetti for dinner on Thursday night and as I was talking to Nate about raw spaghetti, I remembered making spaghetti art in elementary school. So I told him we would do that on Friday. He loved it.

He concentrated so hard - because it is kind of difficult to get the spaghetti in the glue where you want it without it sticking to your fingers. He did great.

I love the sun in these pictures and I love the little boy too. He is so much bigger than he should be! And I'm sure he'll look like a giant when baby sister arrives.

Pre-Baby Pampering

Several sweet sweet friends of mine surprised me on Thursday night with some pre-baby fun. I thought I was just going to get a pedicure with Jane Ellis, but it turns out Scott had been in cahoots with the group to not only pamper me with a pedicure, but also fun dessert and visiting back at our house. Thank you to JE, Meagan, Anna-Katherine, Scott & Nate for making my day, week and month! Jodie could not make it and we really missed you!

Nate set out a "tea party" back at our house.

The yummy cupcakes from Jilly's Cupcake Bar - my favorite!!

The lovely ladies - I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends. My favorite part of the whole night was sitting around the table telling stories and laughing. Sometimes the intricacies of a small town are just too much. Meagan was a good listener and laughed at all the oddities about the little town 3 of us call home.

Thank you so much for such a special evening - I hope baby girl grows up to have amazing women in her life like I do!

Are We Really?

Are we really about to have another one of these????

Hard to believe...and yes, Kitty P will look just as excited when she arrives. Or maybe even a little less excited since she knows what having a baby is all about now. But that's okay, the rest of us will be excited for her!

Bags Are Packed

What kind of packer are you?

There are all kinds of packing styles you see.

You could be like me and get your bag out the week before departing your house and pack a little each day so that you don't forget anything.

OR...

You could be like Scott and always pack either the night before when Abatha wants to be sleeping or better yet, the morning of departure when there are other departure tasks to be done.

What kind of an unpacker are you?

There are all kinds of unpacking styles too.

You could be like me and unpack as soon as you get home. Everything back in its place, all dirty clothes in the laundry, and bag stowed for next trip all within the first hour of arriving home.

OR...

You could be like Scott and leave your bag either downstairs by the washing machine or on the bench in our room for weeks and wonder why some of your clothes have suddenly disappeared. You see, the laundry princess in this house does not go searching in bags for dirty clothes. But I do get a tad irritated when I just squared away all the laundry in the house and then my basket is suddenly full again because unpacker decided it was time to unpack 3 weeks later. Love you!

SO...

When a situation presents the necessity to pack a bag 3+ weeks early in order to be prepared, I am in HEAVEN!! Not only 1 bag, but 2!

My bag is packed. Baby sister's bag is packed. And we are ready to go. Wonder what Scott will wear at the hospital?

Will they be unpacked within an hour after arriving home? Yes, probably. I can't help myself.

Under the Weather

Nate was a little under the weather this weekend. Sometimes you could tell he didn't feel good, sometimes you couldn't. But I couldn't resist this picture of them watching the Tigers on Saturday night. Seems the Tigers were a little under the weather too...ugh.

I told Scott not to look so tired. He said he was tired, so it was hard not to look it. We are all sleeping pretty well these days, which means we are packing lots into each day. I'm full-term and baby sister could arrive at any time, but I'm hoping she stays put for a few more weeks. Lots to do, so little time!

No Place To Be

Friday morning we had absolutely no place to be. It was fabulous. Nate & I stayed home and got some things done around the house. He wanted to make banana muffins and peanut butter play-doh, so we did. He talked a blue streak and I tried to keep up as I was cleaning and organizing. I love days like this.

I wanted him to get dressed before starting in on the peanut butter play-doh, but he suggested that he wear his pj's so he didn't get it on his clothes. Good call, I've taught him well. After all, I was doing the same thing - cleaning the house before I cleaned up myself.

Peanut butter play-doh is 100% edible and is lots of fun. I think especially for boys (or girls) that like to play with trucks - because it makes a good dirt.

1 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey

Mix with your hands until the consistency of play-doh starts to form. Then I scrape all of it off in the bowl, wash my hands, and form into a ball. It will keep for several days if you store it in the fridge. So fun!

Milestone Not Found in Books

Nate hit a major milestone in the month of October. It's not one of those milestones that you read about in the child-rearing books, but nonetheless a huge milestone in our house. I've mentioned it on here before, but Nate has "chewed" a blanket since a very young age. First, it was Bobby and when he gave up Bobby a little over a year ago, we were so excited and proud. He moved on to Blanket, which we were okay with, but the chewing didn't stop.

Right or wrong, we just let it be. We mentioned from time to time that it might be good if he just cuddled his blanket instead of chewing and we made him keep it in his room more, but we never mandated that he stop chewing. Nate has always "grown up" when the time is right and we believed that if he made the choice himself that it would be more sustainable. How's that for parenting technique...shocker, I didn't know we had any technique...

Well, a little over 3 weeks ago, Nate stopped chewing one day. He just said he was going to do it. And that was that. The blanket still goes with him to bed, but many times I find it still folded up the way I left it the night before.

Instead of running out and rewarding him right away, we let it ride for a few weeks to make sure we were living the real deal. Well, we were and we are. My mom came up on Friday for a visit so I decided to make it a celebration day. We went to Jilly's Cupcake Bar for lunch & dessert and then Nate got to pick out a Lego set at Target. It was neat to see him so excited and know the reason behind his reward.

You could say it was close to bribery and I'm okay with that. :) But we are still very proud of Nate's accomplishment, even if I can't check it off on a pre-determined list in his baby book. And here's to hoping there is no regression once Baby Sister arrives, but if history can just repeat itself, which is once he decides to do something, that is that.

Happy Halloween!!

On Thursday night, we went to Boo at the Zoo at Night for the first time. Their main event held on Saturday is crazy, so we wanted to try something a little more low key. It was great. We got to watch a show in the Children's Zoo with real animals - Nate loved it. It was fun to walk around the zoo at night and Nate enjoyed seeing all of the other costumes.

He was Zurg from Toy Story 2 this year. Since Toy Story 2 is a few years old, the costume is not readily accessible in the stores. Scott had to do a major e-Bay project to locate this costume. He did a wonderful job and Nate was so happy.

Next, we had a great Halloween weekend - not so much of a great college football weekend, but looking on the bright side. Nate & Scott carved the pumpkins on Saturday night. I wish Blaine Gabbert (MU's quarterback) would have had some of Nate's fierce attitude during the game - maybe the outcome would have been different. Scott looks very tired...the Dawgs obviously wore him out.

Scott was the Cat in the Hat. I was an 8-month+ pregnant woman. I pulled it off really, really well.

Our Halloween tradition is to head out to Newtown to trick-or-treat with the Peachs. As always, we had a wonderful time. Nate giving me his best evil face.

The decked out Zurg.

Megan was a wild cheetah...and she was wild! It was hard to keep up with her. Until about 40 minutes into trick-or-treating when she declared she was done and helped herself into the wagon.