Daddy's Boots

One day, when Stephen was getting ready for a mariachi performance,

Jaden decided that he needed some mariachi boots too!

Sandbox Fun with Grandpa

Sunny "winter" days in El Paso make great days for sandbox playing! This time Grandpa K got in on the fun!

Grandpa and Jaden created a "tow rope" to get the tractor out of the "mud"

VERY exciting!
I have no idea how this one turned out but I know he didn't come inside with a mouth full of sand so he must have found some cat-like reflexes and turned this around before a face plant!
TWO of my THREE favorite guys in the whole world!

Making Berry Pie

Daddy LOVES pie - and prefers it to basically ALL kinds of cake. Since mommy didn't get around to making one for his birthday (what with giving BIRTH and all) we made one a few days late!

Jaden LOVES to help with anything in the kitchen so he helped to dump the ingredients together and stir!
Mmmmm.....triple berry pie. Daddy's favorite (and I think maybe Grandpa K's now too!!!)

Meeting Grandpa K

Four days old is a good time to meet your grandpa that lives on the other side of the country, right?

Alivia LOVED all the cuddles she got from Grandpa K while he was here and can't WAIT for him to come back to visit!

A Pile in the Bed

This is Jaden in bed just about every night!

What a lot of friends! :-)

Reading Together

Slowly I'm figuring out how to be a mommy of two. So, when Jaden wanted to read a book but wanted me to put Alivia down and she still wanted to be cuddled....

I found room on my lap for two!
Hmm...maybe THIS is why our hips get wider through birth?!?!?! (I'm just sayin'!)

Coming Home

After some juggling and struggling Daddy got both car seats snugly into the backseat so we bundled up and headed home about 36 hours after Alivia was born.

Jaden seems to like his upgrade to the window seat!
In general, Alivia doesn't really like riding in her car seat all that much. If we are on the interstate or steadily moving she doesn't mind too much - but stuck in traffic or at red lights and she tends to express her disapproval.

We brought a baby girl home for Daddy's birthday!
Alivia gave Jaden a present too! She must have been paying attention while in the womb when every time Jaden saw these Ladybugs in the store he wanted to take one home. What a smart baby sister!!!

I think he's in love!
First vistor - Luz.
A birthday dinner for Daddy!
Now officially a family of four!
YUMMY ice cream cake!
Alivia, all tuckered out from all this partying at only 36 hours old!
Jaden: "Can I hold him?" He is SUCH a SWEET big brother!

A beautiful little gift from God!

Alivia Grace

December 12th at 4:44am we were beyond blessed to add a daughter to our family.

Alivia Grace weighed 6lb 11.1 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

She has the tiniest little hands with LONG, thin fingers and skinny, long feet!
Right after birth she got to snuggle with Mommy for an hour and a half. Then she was all wrapped up to head to the nursery for a few tests and her first bath.
Mommy and Daddy rested a little bit and when she came back to our room Daddy got some good snuggling too!
We just spent the afternoon snuggling and dozing!

Later that afternoon Grandma and Grandpa H came by for a visit.

Is that a smile?
FINALLY in our postpartum room and a more comfortable bed.
Then Grandma K came to visit.
We had a peaceful night's sleep. Alivia is a great sleeper and while she wakes up regularly to eat, she usually goes right back to sleep. Actually, the nurses and maintenance to fix our HOT room kept us up more than Alivia did!
Before we checked out to head home big brother Jaden came to visit.
He brought Alivia a present he had gone shopping for with Grandma K
CARS! I think Jaden is more excited about them than Alivia, but she'll grow into them!
Jaden was also pretty excited to see that mommy had a juice box left on her tray.

Just a few minutes into knowing each other you could already tell there was a lot of love between these siblings!

Last Outing as a Family of Three

So, after waiting and waiting for a baby that I thought was going to arrive early, I was 10 days past my due date and STILL waiting! When you are waiting and waiting for a baby to arrive the time seems to DRAG on and on. But, I really was doing fine, I just had to keep planning things to do and making lists of things that I wanted to accomplish and just be happy if I DIDN'T get them done BECAUSE I was having a baby! The common phrase around our house was....."well, tomorrow, if we AREN'T having a baby we'll ________."

There was a big celebration downtown with the lighting of the Christmas Tree in the plaza, a light parade, fireworks, and a laser show and we decided that it would be a fun thing to do.

So....we went! Along with everyone else and their brother in this city!

Stephen had to park about 2 miles away after dropping us off, you couldn't even get close to the plaza, and the parade was SUPER DUPER DUPER long. But, it was fun. But, in the midst of the crowds, calling Stephen 45 minutes after he dropped us off to find out he was STILL looking for a parking place, being stuck in walking traffic so thick there was NO MOVEMENT POSSIBLE....I decided perhaps this wasn't the WISEST place for a 41 week pregnant lady to be!!!!

I guess because my husband was a Scout he often will throw surprise emergency scenarios out asking, "If _____ were to happen right now, what would you do?" so that we can think through a plan of action. An example is, when Jaden was small and we were walking through our neighborhood with our dogs and I had Jaden in a baby carrier on my front we walked past a yard with extremely large, LOUD barking, VICIOUS sounding dogs. Stephen asked, "If those dogs were to get out of their yard and run right for us, what would you do?" The idea was to figure out in advance what the best set of options to best protect us, and especially the baby would be before we needed to know it.

Well, as I was standing in the crowd, noting that I was having contractions (nothing new, but seemingly stronger than before) I started asking myself...."If I were to be in serious labor right now, what would I do?" I had a serious plan of action in mind if I needed to get past that cement barricade and through all of those people quickly!

Thankfully, that wasn't necessary. By the time Stephen finally found us, the parade finished and we watched the fireworks.
Of course, Jaden slept through half of the parade and hid his face in Stephen's shoulder because the loud fireworks scared him but, overall, we had a good time.

Then, we started our walk back to the car. Stephen and my mom kept asking me how I was doing and I was fine but, I was noticing that those contractions just kept on coming. We walked and walked and walked.... I have no idea how far it REALLY was but it was far enough. By the time we got to our car all the other cars that Stephen says had been parked along the way were gone so it kind of seemed like he just parked out in the middle of nowhere for no particular reason.

Anyway, by the time we got home, gave Jaden a bath and got ready for bed I was quite sure these contractions were really for real and not going away until we had baby in our arms. But, that's a story for another day!

Seriously Cool!

Jaden and Grandma headed to the park. Grandma had sunglasses, so OF COURSE Jaden had to have his (which he has refused to wear for several months now!)

He decided he looked pretty cool!

Don't you think so!?

Christmas Stockings II

Here are a few more photos of the Christmas Stocking Project.

Me working on finishing Stephen's.
Since Mommy was always working on making stockings for Daddy and Jaden, they decided that they needed to make me a stocking too!
And, after Alivia was born, they made her one too!


Aren't they cute!?!