He's Here! He's Here!!!

Yeah!  Our little man arrived safe and sound last Tuesday!!  On Valentine's Day! 

We weren't really expecting anything to happen because I still felt the same as I had been so we were waiting for my doctor's appointment the next day where we were pretty sure that the doctor would want to move things along since it was past the due date.  Anyhow, once things started they happened quickly!  At 2pm I talked to our friend who was planning to come watch the girls the next morning while we went to the doctor and nothing was happening yet.  But at 3:30 I sent Jonathan a message telling him that I thought I might, maybe be having real contractions.  We ended up at the hospital at 6:15pm and the baby was born at 7:40!  Wow, that was quick!  It's a good thing that we didn't wait any longer to go to the hospital!!  Everthying went very smoothly and he was healthy and big!  4 kilos - 8lbs12oz! 

Here are some pictures in no particular order from the last week.  And sorry for any typos in this!  It's the best I can do with one hand!  Enjoy! 



Still Waiting...

So, Baby Shoe is due on Monday and nothing seems to be happening yet so we're still waiting!  What does a pregnant mommy do while waiting?  Go shopping, of course!  I found these two cute shirts on clearance and I couldn't resist!  I guess boy clothes can be fun too!

I'll go back to the doctor on Wednesday (unless he decides to come out before then!) and we'll see how things are going then. 

We're all doing fine over here.  I've got my share of aches and pains but it's not really too bad.  I'm doing laundry and organizing and just keeping life going around here for our sweet little family.  We'll keep you posted!

As She Sees the World

This is a picture of our family that Katie drew at school the other day.  Can you identify each person?  Check out Mommy's big tummy! 

Also, it's snowing pink snow, because we get that a lot over here. 

I Mean Really,

How cute is that smile???

Sharing a Room!

Did you know that we're having a baby???  Yep, in just 5 weeks this little man is due to make his enterance into the world and into our family!  We have a good list of things that need to or should get done before he comes along and opening up a bedroom for him was one thing on that list.

So, this weekend we (ok, mostly my wonderful husband) worked really hard to get Katie's room ready for her little sister to move in.  Here's the play-by-play in pictures:



Blank, boring wall... Cute little girl!

If you look on the side you can just see my pregnant belly peeking in the picture.

Daddy's Helper!

The painting is done!  What cute girls!!!

We moved things around and switched some furniture from other rooms to use the space better.

Sharing a room is so much fun!!

This morning after the girls woke up we moved Carly's crib into the new room.  I think they're excited! 

Katie has been really sweet about all of these changes.  She said, "It will be fun.  Now I'll have a friend with me when I sleep!"  So cute! 

There's still more to be done to the room like hang Carly's name on the wall and put up some curtains and other decor but for now it's fun and it's for BOTH of them.  And, as I write this they're both asleep in their room together - for now anyway! 

Playing in the...snow???

We found out that some good friends of our's were getting away to the mountains for a few days after Christmas so we invited ourselves along (really, we did).  It was great to get away and spend time with other families.  Our friends actually had another family invite themselves along too so we were 6 adults and 8 kids for 3 nights in a hotel.  That was excitement!  It was fun because the kids entertained each other a lot and the moms got to get away for coffee a few times and the dads got out for dinner so everyone was happy. 

One of the draws to go to the mountains was because it is one of the few places in this country to go play in the snow.  We knew that there hadn't been much yet but we were optomistic as to what we would find.  Those of you who live in snowy climates will laugh when you see the "snow" few found!  It was man made and mostly ice by the time we got there.  Who knows when it was made!  There were actually a few people trying to ski!  The kids didn't know the difference and it was kind of nice to have grass to sit on while we watched the kids sled!  Not a bad combo, really! 

Ready for the snowy adventure!

 Katie and Daddy sledding down the BIG hill!

 It was kind of cold!  For us, anyway!

 Wow, just look at all of that snow!!!

Down in the town where we stayed we found a great park that we went to a couple of times.  Here's Katie practicing her rock climbing skills! 

 The park had a lake with paddle boats.  The dads took the kids out and they all had fun!

 Bye for now!



Christmas!

After more than 5 years over here this was our first Christmas without visitors!  I think we've been pretty unique with all of the visitors that we've had so we weren't too surprised that this year finally came along. 

We really had a nice Christmas!  We definitely missed our families!  But we've also been blessed with good friends here that we were able to celebrate with - I'm so thankful!! 

Another fun aspect of this year that I think helped to distract us from being "alone" is that Katie is at such a fun age to really enjoy the fun of Chrsitmas - the presents, the TRUE story, the lights, the tree, the excitement of it all!  And of course Carly follows right along with her big sister so we had two super fun, excited girls this year!

Unfortunately I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures (like ONE on Christmas Eve!), but here are some that I did take.  Enjoy!

On Christmas Eve we had a family over that is here for a year learning the language and then they're on their way to Africa.  This was their first Christmas away from "home."  They have kids the same ages as our girls so they all had a blast playing together and exchanging gifts.  We did my family's tradition of hot chocolate and cookies and reading the Christmas Story together.  With a 5 year old, two 4 year olds and two 2 year olds we went with a kid's version and read it quickly!  Attention spans are short! 

Before bed our girls left cookies for Santa.  Yum!

Thanks for the Christmas PJs, Uncle Tim!

Christmas morning!  We did NOT feel the need to wake the girls up early!  We got up when they did (yeah!) and then we took our time opening gifts.  We opened a few, played, ate cinnamon rolls, opened some more, played, until we were done.  It was a lovely, fun, lazy morning!

 A train set!  Getting ready for a BOY in the house, I guess!  The girls love it!

 Yum!  Cinnamon Rolls!

 Investigating...  Who's name is on this one???

 New blocks!  These girls LOVE to build with their daddy!

My sister, Teri, made this amazingly sweet book for the girls!  She made it as a way for the girls to get to know something special about each of their relatives - since we live far away and don't get to be together nearly as often as we like.

 It's so cute!  We've been having fun reading it together!

Well, that's where the pictures end.  Bummer.  The rest of the day was really fun too (and we eventually changed out of our pjs!).  We went over to some American friends' house and our Australian friends came over too.  Between our 3 families there are 7 girls - and one boy!  I think that one boy will enjoy having another boy around in a few months!  We're all over here without family this year and we had a great time hanging out and being family for each other.  One of our friends took some great pictures of the kids doing their gift exchange and they're on my FB page so check them out there, grandparents!  :-)