Baby Girl is here!

Sophie Hannah was born Sunday, December 29 at 1:51pm. We were excited to meet her almost 2 weeks before she was due, and she's as sweet and perfect as can be!
6lbs, 13oz
20 inches long

He's 3!

Gavin: 3 years old, potty trained since July, about to become a big brother, 

Favorite places: the zoo, the library, preschool, the park, and Kroger "where I get my own shopping cart"

Favorite foods: noodles, popcorn, candy,waffles, cheese, berries, apples, hot chocolate (even in the summer), bubbles, peanut butter

Dislikes: bedtime, the sound of the blender, when Daddy leaves, anything he can't do by himself

Activities he loves: whatever Daddy's doing, reading, talking to Baby Sister (inside Mommy), using his "superpowers" to turn the light off, doing puzzles

And now, many more photos of Gavin from the last 6 months than you ever needed (here's a link to the last post of way-too-many Gavin photos--at his half-birthday in May). 

enjoying autumn

With pregnancy sickness and sometimes-unbearable humidity, our first Ohio summer was not my favorite. But now that the weather is cooler, I'm loving being outside with Gavin enjoying the beautiful leaves and beautiful temperatures. Here are a few recent photos.

not our house -a gorgeous nearby one

We only have a few small trees, but luckily this one provided a nice pile of leaves for playing.

We've also enjoyed putting up a few autumn decorations. We love the scarecrow motif because it easily covers both October and November decorating needs. (And we're bucking the trend of putting up Christmas decorations after Halloween.)

Happy autumn!

Halloween 2013

 When I asked Gavin what he wanted to be, he stuck to this: "I want to be Dusty with wings and a propeller."
Hmmmm..... You can't buy such a thing. What's  a mom to do? I was forced to make the costume, and here's the result.

trying it on a few days ago

I also thought it necessary for Baby Girl to wear a costume, so I made hers too.

As we're leaving to trick-or-treat...

 We made it to about 8 houses, and Gavin was done. He did enjoy stealing his Dad's chair and handing out candy the rest of the evening. :)

Happy Halloween, everyone!

baby belly

I'm a few days into my 3rd trimester, and I'm starting to realize how quickly this baby will be here. It doesn't help that at yesterday's OB appointment the Dr said I've graduated to every-2-week appointments. Yikes! I guess if I weren't so busy I'd have time to mentally prepare for Baby Girl's arrival... (Anybody want a class to teach every morning at 6am? Or 2 Halloween costumes to finish? Or a gorgeous toddler? --Never mind the toddler; I'm not willing to part with him.)

I've had a few requests for belly shots, so here are some.

22 weeks

24 weeks

26 - almost 27 

This may be the last of the belly shots I post. You can already see my double chin in the last photo, and things are only going to get bigger. But I've started a few things for baby's room, so there may be a future post about that.

She's kicking like crazy and had the hiccups this morning for the first time I could detect. 

NYC girls' weekend

Last Friday we flew to DC Friday where Jacob and Gavin spent the weekend with Jacob's parents. I had the amazing chance to escape to New York City with my sisters-in-law Micaela and Ashley, and it was so much fun!

We saw Newsies on Broadway, and the performance was fantastic!

Times Square, but also a Statue of Liberty street performer and bagels
on the big screen. What could be more New York?

Grand Central Station

 We had brunch at Cafe Lalo, which was featured in the movie You've Got Mail.

Top: Micaela and I have due dates 3 days apart
Bottom: spinach and gouda sandwich on a whole wheat bagel--yum!

I have a mild obsession with the Brooklyn Bridge. When we visited NYC in 2011 I was disappointed about all the scaffolding. This time it was wonderful to walk across the bridge, and most of the scaffolding wasn't too visible.

Though I would prefer to eat them in Paris, these French macarons we ate in NY were delicious.

time lapse: approximately 45 seconds

NY cheesecake - pumpkin with gingerbread crust

I could go back to NYC lots of times. :)