Circus 2013

My brave parents took all 3 "big" girls to the circus Saturday and the pics I received throughout the night tell me they had a great time.  What kid wouldn't love a night of circus acts, cotton candy, popcorn, McDonald's, a movie and sharing a bed with your cousins at the end of the night?  This probably brought my parents right back to 1985 with the three of us girls running around :) But, this time they got to send them all home the next morning!

Thanks for the fun night - we enjoyed it just as much!!!

Checking out the scene

sticky hands - my nightmare

Chatting over dinner

Souvenirs!

We love sleepovers!!!

Leigh's First Weekend Home

Our first weekend with Leigh home, and as a bigger (maybe complete?) family, was amazing - and much much less chaotic than I would have ever thought!  Leigh is seriously an easy, easy baby (only crying has been for food or when we change her diaper and she gives me a few hours of sleep each night) and she just sleeps and sleeps all day long so all of our guests have been able to cuddle with her on the couch while Lucy entertains everyone.  I spent my first day alone with the girls today and had the best time with them! Leigh has taken to the Moby Wrap nicely so she just sleeps on me all day and we took a trip to Target to practice our routine of getting out of the house. I know, I shouldn't drive but I don't realistically think any mom out there is not going to drive for 2 weeks - or walk up steps or pick up anything and just rest all day.  And we made it home with me behind the wheel just fine :)

I find myself taking a ton more pics of Leigh than I did of Lucy - which is usually the opposite - but I always look back and wish I had more of Lucy so the camera is out constantly.  And, I think when you know you might not have an infant this little again, you really cherish every little thing.  

Happy one week Leigh!!!

Heading home from hospital

First bath!

Some daddy time - always a keeper photo

Sharing her big girl bed

Mommy time

Happy St. Patty's Day

 Our giggly big girl!

Nap Time

Our visitors

And Lucy got some big sis gifts!

Great Gra giving Lucy rides around the house :) 

So Sweet!!!

Welcome Leigh Gracen!!!

We can not put into words our love for our new little girl, Leigh Gracen.  She was born yesterday, March 11th at 12:33 pm, weighing in at 6 lbs, 3 oz and measuring 18 inches long.  She is just beautiful, beyond perfect and makes our family feel complete.  The past 30 hours have been filled with so much love - love we honestly didn't believe would be possible with Lucy already in our lives!  I think this hospital stay has been extra special for me because, having been through it before, I am able to be more present in the moment and take it all in....realizing this might be the last time we go through it all! 

Leigh is honestly the easiest baby (so far.....at 30 hours).  She is a great eater, loves to sleep in anyone's arms and we rarely hear a little cry out of her.  Of course that will change!!!  She is so sweet - she snores when she sleeps and makes the cutest facial expressions. We get a few minutes of catching her blue eyes every once in a while.  She is happy as long as she is swaddled and being cuddled.  We kept her in our room the first night because I couldn't put her down.

And, of course nobody is more proud than Lucy.  Right now she wants to really be involved with everything Leigh and we are excited to get the two home together.  It was so precious watching her give hugs and kisses to her little sister and we are so proud of her.  But, I know I will have to keep a good eye on the two because we are still learning the word "gentle" when it comes to babies.  Hopefully Leigh will just continue being easy-going and adapt to the pokes and hands-on-assistance from her big sister.

We feel so lucky to have two beautiful girls in our lives and can only imagine what the years ahead will bring as they start to play together and be the best of friends.  I think they look a lot alike in baby pictures but look forward to seeing how different they become in personality and looks. Who is more like Joe, who is more like me, etc.  

We have tons of pictures so just posting a few favorites from the first days here and many, many more to come as we bring Leigh home to be with her big sister and jump back into our "normal" lives.  

Leigh, we love you to pieces.  

Just the 3 of Us

One of the positive things about knowing when your baby will be coming is the ability to plan for it - one of the negatives is that it gives you too much time to think about it.  As we finalized plans for Baby B's delivery tomorrow, we had mixed emotions as we can't wait to hold our new little girl but knew it was our last weekend with Lucy as an "only child."  Just like every phase of our lives (dating, being married without kids) being a family of 3 has been very special for us.  We learned so much over the past 2 1/2 years with Lucy - and I have been so lucky to spend nearly every weekday with just the two of us hanging out in the city, taking classes and just watching Lucy grow into the most beautiful little girl.  We are so excited to get to do it all over again - and watch Lucy be a big sister through all of it.  She will be amazing - she tells me every day what she will share with her little sister, teach her and always gives her hugs (around my huge stomach.)

But, this weekend was all about Lucy.  Tomorrow will be all about welcoming, cuddling and bonding with our new baby girl. We can't wait to finally meet her, watch Lucy meet her and take our first picture as a family of 4.  

A few random pics from the weekend - 

Out for lunch at Lucy's favorite, Flat Top (daddy's too)

Pizza night

Wrapping a gift for her baby sister....

Milk shakes 

Cheers!

Our last pic as a family of 3

And just a cute photo leaving gymnastics this morning

Many pics to come of our beautiful baby girl.......