Lots of catching up to do...

Though I have good intentions, actually getting around to putting pictures up seems to always be taking a backseat to everything else. Let me put up a few events' worth...

Lily has still been doing lots of sleeping, and I think she's doubled in size since this picture was taken!

We were thrilled to have Aunt Shannon, Riley and Emily visit in April:

Josh, Emily, Riley & Lily

Running through the sprinkler. Josh says "Wanna prinkle!"

I just love this one.


Moved Josh into his big boy room so that he could adjust to the idea of the nursery being Lily's. He is doing great in his big bed!


Big smiles in the swing!


Wild Hair Day at Daycare


Daddy/Daughter bonding. I think they're watching a logging show on the Discovery Channel. Really not nearly as fascinating as they appear to think it is


Easter:

Check out the bunny feet!

Family Easter shot

Josh & Luke ready for the Easter egg hunt in their new shades

Josh, Luke & David hunting for eggs

Sporting her "Somebunny Loves Me" outfit. I held out hope that she'd have enough hair for the matching hair clips, but no such luck...

Playing with her "My 1st Easter" lamb rattle

Growing Up

Both kids seem to be getting so big so fast lately. My perspective has definitely changed with #2. It's easier to realize that the sleepless nights will end soon enough (and I'll survive until then) and that my little helpless baby will be a running, jumping, incessant chatterer in just 2 1/2 short years!

Here are a few shots of what we've been up to lately.

Big brother Josh reading to Lily. My favorite moment was when he held out "Pat the Bunny" for Lily to smell the flowers, too.

Josh smelling the flowers at the Arboretum when we went to check out Dallas Blooms with Grandma and Aunt Loretta.

"No, me me do it!" is a constant refrain in our house these days. Check out what happens when we let him put his own pants on. We're encouraging the independence - he even uses the potty on occasion!


Lily was baptized on 3/20.


A few recent shots of Miss Lilian



Check out the first social smile captured on camera.

Our New Addition

We're pleased to welcome a daughter - Lilian. Miss Lily's arrival was a little more dramatic than we would have preferred. Daddy being at work + several inches of snow on top of the ice that had been there all week + just over 2 1/2 hours of labor = being at the hospital for maybe 10 minutes when she was born (and not at the hospital we intended to deliver at).

Thursday, 2/3 about 7:30 p.m. Doing bath time with Josh, and taking a belly shot of the 39 & 6/7 weeks belly.

Just after 4:38 a.m. Friday morning. Not the highest picture quality? The camera was still in the car so we settled for a cell phone shot.

Lily

Josh seems huge by comparison now.

Sweet big brother.

Merry Christmas! (finally!)

I think I was over a month behind last year too. Oops. Hope you had a great Christmas!

Josh and I kicked off the holiday weekend with a ride on the Polar Express to visit Santa at the North Pole with Matt's family.

Due to his love of trains, we knew Josh would have a blast. Once we were actually on the train, I'm afraid that the fact that we were on a train was somewhat lost on him, but he had a great time nonetheless.
Enjoying the hot cocoa.
Look at this expression of pure delight when he spotted Santa!
Santa, Josh & Mommy

A family photo before heading to church for Christmas Eve service.

Getting all the grandkids together makes for some good times.

Ready for Christmas

My apologies for not posting much lately. Between crazy Christmas package season for Matt and 3rd trimester for me, there's not a ton of productivity left after work these days :)

As I've been meaning to post since September, we are adding a little pink to our house these days. We still can't say whether a boy or a girl will be joining our family in February, but we've added a sweet little girl to our family. We brought our new dog, Jolie, home in September. She has slipped right into our family. She is not yet a year old, and she is such a happy thing. She loves rough-housing with Otis, and she seems to know just how to play with Josh. We're really enjoying her.



Playing tug of war with Otis. Please note the little toy pieces and toy fluff around them. Our floors are almost always covered in such things. The good news is Josh pretty willingly picks up the dog toy parts and throws them away.


Counting the days to Christmas. Yes, Joseph and a horse are on the roof. Isn't that where they are in your Nativity scene?

Playing with his Fisher Price Nativity set.

Otis sneaks in a few minutes with the Nativity.

Performing in his first Christmas program at daycare.



They danced to "Chicken Pox for Christmas"

Helping trim the tree.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

A Scooby Doo Halloween

Happy Halloween! We've been enjoying the festivities. Josh and Otis really enjoyed the trick or treaters coming to our door. Josh watched through the window and would yell "Trick or treat come!" and then he'd hold the door open and yell, "Good night!" or "Happ How-ween" as they left. It was precious. Otis' favorite holiday is Halloween. He gets so excited by the kids coming to the door. Often the trick or treaters don't realize that he's harmless, and so when he pokes his giant head out the door, it occasionally causes some fear. Tonight we had one kiddo cry and one parent swear, so we'll consider it a successful evening.

Helping Daddy scoop out his jack-o-lantern.


Supervising the carving.

The finished product.


Sporting his mummy sweatshirt from Grandma.

A little pre-trick or treating rocking horse was necessary.

Displaying his spoils.

Sticker Fun

Stickers are an endless source of entertainment these days.