Ethan James is here!!

Hello Everyone, Yes our little guy was born almost 2 1/2 wks ago already and its been a whirlwind since he arrived, tiring but fun. We are now "man to man" as they say and so far I am okay with that, its the 2 to 1 during the day that I am trying to master :)

Ethan was born on March 18th, at 11:27 pm 8lb's 7oz and 20" long. He is a healthy baby boy who now is 9lbs 2oz at his two week check up this past Monday.
He is nursing well and growing like a weed!!

Shaylen just adores him, and has to hold him at least once a day. She is also enjoying the little extra tv time she has been getting lately.

So Ethan's arrival day was interesting as I thought my water had broken early in the morning. We called our friends that were planning on being on call for us and they came over at about 5:30-6am to be with Shaylen when she woke up. However, it was NOT my water and I was not contracting as much or as hard as they wanted, and they sent me home. Shaylen, Shawn and I proceeded to walk around the block that morning and hang out with our neighbors outside to hopefully get things moving. Between 3pm and 6pm the contractions went from 10 minutes to 2-3 minutes. We headed to the hospital where I was 5 cm dilated. I got an epidural within 20 minutes of being there and slowly but surely let things progress. By 11:10 or so I could feel that he was ready to come. Everything was prepped and ready and the pushing started. Within 7 minutes of pushing this little man entered the world! He beat Shaylen by 10 minutes!

He is a wonderful addition to the family! We are a little partial but we think he is absolutely adorable!

It has been a long time.

This belly pic is from Jan 29th. I was 32 weeks along.

Hello everyone that reads this. I am not sure who keeps tabs on us through this, only positive about a few of you. Sorry this has been lagging so badly but life has really caught up to us. When priorities are laid out, this is one thing that gets pushed to the back burner.

The last few months have been full of Shaylen growing into a well aware toddler with a wonderful and yet challenging at times, personality. It is so fun to watch her and see her change. I have been getting more and more tired in these last few weeks before baby boy joins our family.

I will be 38 weeks on Friday and that just seems so crazy. The 2nd pregnancy is a little different than the first being that you know what to expect but yet you don't really remember all the specifics. Also having a toddler to distract can be a good thing and a very tiring thing. I feel like it has taken me forever to get here, but at the same time, we really only have maybe 2 weeks left with little miss Shaylen before we are busy again with a newborn. As I grow more tired I am trying to savor each day with my little girl as I know I will be more distracted in the coming months.

This is such an exciting time though as there are 5 woman pregnant on our block. I start in March, there is another in April, one in May and two in August. Then also some dear friends that both live within three blocks are due in May as well. Something in the water!

Shaylen has been very attentive to my stomach the last couple weeks, even putting one of her cloth play bandages on my ever expanding belly button thinking its an owie. She will caress, kiss and talk to my stomach which is so precious. She talks of sharing her toys with baby brother and playing catch with him. I truly hope that these two becomes best buds.

October is falling fast!

This little girlie is getting closer and closer to her 2nd birthday! We just cannot believe how fast she is growing up. She is now talking like crazy repeating everything we say. She can name most of her colors accurately, her shapes and also identify some letters of the alphabet! It amazes me how much she pics up on and says. It is such a blessing her hear her try and sing "Jesus Loves Me", say "bless you" after someone sneezes, and watch her fold her hands to pray and adamantly state "amen" when we are done praying.

September and October have been fun enjoying the weather changing and watching the leaves change. I am now starting to feel better as I have entered into my second trimester! We are excited and very nervous for this arrival but Spring baby will be welcomed with open arms! especially by Shaylen who has really taken to babies.

Shawn and I went on a weekend away from girlie with Shawn's work. It was a nice weekend away, though I had to take many snacks to hold me over! :) Girlie stayed with grandma Sherry and had a nice time.

Uncle Jamie "Mamie" came to visit during his birthday and stayed with us. Shaylen had him wrapped around her finger from the getgo! it was so cute watching them play with stickers and legos. Shaylen still looks in the room he stayed in almost a month ago now and says "uncle Jamie" knowing that he slept in there.

In September we finally took Shaylen to John Ball Zoo. She had so much fun!

Enjoy the pics of this little girlie from the last few months. She continues to grow!



































Feeding the birds with Mom.













Feeding the stingrays with Dad.
































Fall pics around the neighborhood :)

August Already!!

Summer is just flying by and since the last posting this girl has continued to grow and get even more of a personality, all good, and maybe some undesirable behaviors.

In June we had our block party, always a blast! and Jamie came in from Chicago for a bit.
Other than that we went camping over 4th of July weekend, what an experience! so fun with so many kids. We have gone to the beach a few times and done some pool time in the backyard with just us and sometimes with our neighbors.

Girlie is growing so fast, learning new words each day trying to repeat them after we say them.
We love this little girl so much and enjoy each day we get to spend with her and watch her grow older.

Enjoy the pics!

Sticker Time!!













Lake Michigan, this girl loves the water and the sand.



















Block Party, Shaylen and Liam sidewalk chalking it.













Shaylen and Eva just chillaxin'













Shaylen and Shawn, her first time in Pentwater.














All the kids we went camping with over the 4th, but there is one 10 mo old missing.
Adam, Shaylen Daylyn, Autumn, Jack and Noah, and Ruby is not in the pic.
It was so much fun.














At the beach at Interlochen State Park. Shawn and I got swimmers itch, eww.














Shaylen is taking after her dad. She literally sat here for 20-30 minutes just messing with all the stuff.

Oh Spring.... and FIRST HAIRCUT :)

So maybe if I post more often I will actually put more up! :)

Here are some pics from Mothers day, Easter, 18 mo photo shoot, Tulip Time and her first haircut!! and of course just a cute lil girlie.

Shaylen so excited about her John Deer boots she had to ride a horse with them on :)



















Easter Sunday egg hunt at shawns grandma's house. She found her eggs and each of them had a quarter in them!!













Mothers day we went to Boatwerks for brunch, this is my mom and grandma, 4 generations! :) (of fiesty girls! )













Shaylen and her buddy Ryann













John Deer boots and a dutch costume, normal, right?



















Our friend Cat from CA came to visit the last weekend in Tulip Time. Being that her fav flower is the Tulip, it was perfect. Shaylen really took to Cat :). This photo was taken at Veldheer tulip farms. Shaylen just wanted to give her a hug.













First haircut..... so cute. Then post haircut celebration at Captain Sundae!! This girl LOVES her ice cream.

spring has sprung and summer is here!

This month of May has gone by so quickly it just amazes me. Shaylen had her 18 mo check up on May 2 and came out with flying colors! She continues to grow so fast being in the 86th % for hieght and the 60th% for weight. She does like to eat and isnt too picky.

She is a climber these days and goes onto the dining table whenever someone walks away from their chair. On Tuesday, yesterday, she starting climbing onto the table while saying "no no, no no" and of course shawn and I could not keep from laughing a little. So why does she still do we ask, when she knows we are going to say no. Oh well someday she will understand.

She still signs when necessary like "please" and "thank you". She loves to blow kisses and give them others. We will hear her sometimes as she is falling asleep, giving kisses to her glowworm in bed going "mooowah".

She is a cuddly girl when she wants to be, otherwise she is constantly on the move. She does like to look outside and watch for anything that moves, but especially squirrels and birds. The other night while I was making dinner she was standing on the couch on the front porch watching the girls across the street play catch, completely mesmerized.

The past couple of months we have been enjoying the ever gradually warming weather, going out in the wagon, swinging on the swing and going for walks down the sidewalk and to the park. She loves our kid neighbors eva and liam, both are right around her age and are her first little buddies in this life of hers :). We enjoyed mothers day a lot what a joy it was to be called a mother to this little girlie, and we had a blast at tulip time. Girlie wore her dress with pride along with her John Deer boots :) that she put on herself!














supporting her mom and Jessica at the Irish Jig 5k




















Frederick Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies!!

Is winter almost done?

So tomorrow is March, which makes me think, man its been a while since I posted some new pics of the girlie. She is doing much better these days and we are just waiting for this winter to be DONE. Sickness has just infiltrated our house all winter long. From colds, to strep, to ear infections to bronchitis. The only illness I think we escaped was the Flu!

Shaylen is 16 mo old! She is getting so big, and so smart! Well in our opinion she has been smart from day 1. She loves to color and play with stickers, run around on the front porch on sunny days, and empty the drawer full of plastic container covers. She has not started saying a whole lot yet, but makes a lot of noises and fluctuations in her voice very sincerely with high expectations of you understanding her. The thing that just baffles us, is that she completely seems to understand us and what we tell her to do. Sometimes I wonder if sign language helped with this.

We are continuously enjoying her as she gets older, and all that comes with her growing bigger and more independent. The one thing that is always a challenge is teething. She has been working on four molars for a month. We think they are all finally here, but they keep bothering her as they keep coming in more and more. She is getting better and better at climbing onto furniture which just petrifies me! and she finds things to help her like stools and her crate full of books. She likes to climb onto the dining chairs too! then proceed to the table, not good!

These are some fun pics from winter over January and February. This girlie loves to go sledding :)! though because of colds and stuff, we did not do it that often.

OH and she had her 15 mo appt and girlie is REALLY tall :) 32 inches and 23.3 lb's. She is in the 91st % for height and the 60th for weight. Tall and average is our little girl. We can see it in her clothes now that she has been wearing 24 mo clothes! She grows so fast.

OOO cool snow!














Okay back to the puzzle













She loves to help clean, so she gets her own towel to help!



















Saturday mornings with daddy.













Saturday mornings with mommy :)













MMMM good chocolate cookie :)













she is getting very good at her utensil usage!



















What a great helper!



















More saturday morning time with daddy :)













Sledding down our back deck steps where shawn made a homemade
sledding hill. It works great at this age!




















































lil cousin Luis turned 1! these two might just be close buds being
so close in age.













Playdate with our buddy Camden! he is 4 weeks younger and OH so cute!













Shaylen fed cookie monster cheerios :)


























Making Valentines day cookies with daddy! She
did great with the sprinkles! it was fun, they didn't taste that good,
but it was fun.