december visitors: round 3

we enjoyed christmas day with Pa-pa Scruggs, who came to visit us from colorado. the day was spent lounging, eating, emailing, opening presents, and of course, listening to our toddler whine and our new born crying... oh the joys! :)

we are looking forward to the next couple days of rest, and not having to go to work. the time will fly, i am sure!
getting ready for our final round of visitors next week! :)

merry christmas!

merry christmas from our family to your's

december visitors: round 2

here's the fam with grandma and grandpa mclane, who stopped to visit us for a few days on their way to colorado. they were gracious enough to babysit on saturday night while jesse and i got some christmas shopping done and had dessert with our good friends, the nordines.

jacob getting a christmas kiss from his friend, isabel, who just happens to be a girl. :)

and kate, just being CUTE!

december visitors: round 1

we're geared up for a month of visitors. our first house guests were jesse's parents this past weekend. we had fun sharing our daily childcare responsibilities with gammie and pappy. lots of dirty diapers and bad naps aren't so bad when someone else is helping!



jacob is just getting over a stomach virus- which started with a day of throw up, followed by 6 days of yucky diapers- so glad to be done with that! here he is in his first bubble bath (don't know what took us so long to do a bubble bath, but he hated it) and with pappy and his new hat...



kate continues to be a social butterfly by refusing to nap. she just wants to be held all the time and is the happiest baby if she gets her way! she's had only 3 or 4 naps in the last 2 weeks that have been longer than 45 minutes. she just doesn't want to stay asleep. we've tried lots of "sleep props" but what really seemed to work for her 3 hour nap yesterday was sleeping on her belly...the only position in which she can't startle herself awake. she still sleeps great at night, and actually went 8 hours between feedings a couple nights ago....maybe again someday soon??!



she is filling out in her face and thighs, like a chubby baby, and continues to bless us with her adorable smile.


this weekend we are enjoying time with my mom and step-dad, who are visiting us briefly on their cross-country drive from pittsburgh, pa to colorado springs, co.

blessings

we are so blessed with these 2 children who continue to make us smile day after day.

so when you have a tiny baby who fits inside a stocking this is what you do...

we got jacob a curious george stuffed animal, but he didn't care for it one bit, so now kate gets to nap with him. :)

and jacob continues to learn new words and new things every day. haven't heard him sing yet, but i think he is trying to in this video. his favorite cartoon, bob the builder, has such a catchy theme song

happy thanksgiving

it was a busy day in the pié house- lots of cooking, eating, and kids running around. we enjoyed our thanksgiving day with grandma and grandpa mclane and aunt michal, uncle scott, and cousins ryan and lindsey. we are very thankful for family, especially our recent addition. :)

sorry for the blurry picture, but this was the best one of 'the cousins'

oh yes! she smiled.

a little too early for a real smile? i know. but i am convinced that this was a legitimate smile! i was doing the usual "goo goo" baby talk in her face, and she smiled. couldn't have been real, i thought. so i grabbed the camera and did it again- sure enough! i was able to capture it on camera. yay for mommy!- that was enough for me to forget about how exhausted i was (still am), and forgive kate for keeping me up at night!

jacob had his 18 month dr appt this week- he's an average 35 pounds (75th percentile according to the dr), but he measures in at an above-average height (95th percentile). doc says he will most likely be 6 ft 2 in or taller when he is all grown up. hard to believe! jacob is doing great at adjusting to kate- so good that he was kind enough to share a cold virus with her (and with mommy and daddy). oh the joys of snotty noses! we're getting ready to transition jacob to 1 nap a day- and are contemplating the disappearing act of his pacifiers (our goal is to have them gone in the next 6 months).

we snuck kate on the scale when jacob was at the dr. she weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces. she continues to eat well, and spits up more often :(. naps are good- but nighttime is rough- i think it just might be time to move her into her own bedroom. sounds like a great idea!

jacob made me laugh this week- we were watching the music group 'il divo' perform on Good Morning America. they were singing "amazing grace", a song from their recently released album. jacob was CAPTIVATED! when he caught me filming him- the first word that comes out of his mouth, "puppy!" think maybe he was embarrassed?? :) i think he liked the bagpipes.

tired family

yes, we're very very tired, but it is all worth it- we've got this cute bundle of joy to look at, and an energetic 18 month old to chase around!

jesse returned to work on monday, gladly- i think he was getting cabin fever and had much work awaiting him. i have just been busy taking care of the kids and the house- and trying to get a nap in when i can.

over all, things are going really well. kate is a good baby, eating and napping well, and sleeping great at night. jacob has started to warm up to the idea of keeping her and not sending her back, even will give her kisses when he is not asked.

grandpa scruggs is in town for the weekend, enjoying the grandkids. here he is getting his first look at kate. jacob LOVES his papa dennis!

new hair and kate on day 5

jacob got a haircut- it got a little out of control! mommy and daddy are both hoping it grows back fast. jacob is still not quite sure about the new body in the house. he seems to not be interested in her but will kiss her or touch her every now and then. time will tell... here is a picture of us getting home from the hospital, introducing brother and sister:

kate is still a sweet little girl- slowing down on her spit-up and blessing us with fussy nights. oh the joys!! :)

kate - day 2

more beautiful than she was yesterday! but i am a bit biased.

kate is doing very well on day 2. she spent several hours this morning in the special care unit, but is now back in the room with mommy. the dr said she seems very healthy. unfortunately she is showing signs of her big brother's spit-up "disease" (and we're hoping she's just teasing us).

kate evelyn pié

she's finally here! welcome to the world, kate!

she graced us with her presence at 5:16 am today

she weighed in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces and measured 20 inches long

thank you for coming on your own before mommy had to be induced! thank the Lord for answering our prayers!

update

i am scheduled to be induced at 6 am tomorrow, thursday, october 30th. we'll try to keep everyone updated!

in the meantime, here's a super cute picture of jacob from candace's blog:

thank you candace! :)

soon

happy day-before-the-due-date day! we're still waiting...

pretty soon this little angel will be a big brother. hard to believe!? i know.

the waiting game

just hanging around...waiting for the baby girl to arrive...

walking is supposed to be good to get the baby engaged and dropped- so we went hiking in the woods behind the house. here's some video from jesse's part of the hike (after mommy went inside to get dinner started):

and some pictures from the hike:

jacob and mommy watching his favorite show- Bob the Builder:

on my days off, jacob and i get to hang out and play with isabel, his buddy. here's a cute picture i got of them on the dinosaur car together:

and saturday the 18th, "sweetest day", was a sweet day for me- i got a mother's necklace and roses from jesse. what is sweetest day anyways? i am not sure- but i like it! :)

and here's the soon-to-be big brother, just up from his sunday afternoon nap:

fall fever

we ventured out in the warm, 80 degree, october weather today to enjoy some fall festivities. we found a local farm that was advertising hayrides, a corn maze, a pumpkin patch and petting zoo, and thought it might be fun for jacob.

the most exciting part for jacob was something we could have experienced free in our own backyard....TRACTOR!!

the most exciting part for daddy was getting to feed ears of corn to the cows from the hay wagon (black angus cattle charging at the wagon, hungry for food- it was thrilling!)

here are some pics from the day:

and the highlight of the day for mommy.....gas for under $3/gallon!

finally got the promised big belly picture:

2 and 1/2 weeks to go!

surprise!

i have great friends. well, they lied to me, but i guess i can forgive them because they threw a wonderful surprise baby shower for me on saturday. it was just supposed to be a girl's lunch, with some of my friends from work, and then they told me it was a surprise birthday party for one of our friends. well, when i arrived they were yelling "surprise", not to the birthday girl, but to the pregnant one. there were beautiful balloons and gifts in the living room, and there were streamers and a cookie cake in the dining room. we had all brought a taco topping to have a taco bar and candace made my favorite strawberry jello-pretzel salad.

it was a fun time! i felt very blessed to have such wonderful, thoughtful, generous friends.

since i wasn't prepared with my camera, i only have this one picture yet, and more are to come from another camera. here's the cookie cake:

so now i am ready for her to come! with some of the gifts i received on saturday that i have already put in the nursery, and my hospital bag mostly packed, i can say that i am feeling ok with going into labor any day! i have the diaper bag all packed and ready, and all i have to do is get jacob's overnight bag ready for the babysitter. this week i am 37 weeks and the baby is officially full term- so let's get this party started. :)

i guess i wouldn't mind holding off for a while longer...

please be in prayer for my mom, who will be having a heart cath procedure done this friday, the 10th, and kidney stone surgery next thursday, the 16th. these are both out-patient procedures, but she needs to be fully recovered and rested before she can come down to kentucky for grandma "duty". so, baby pié, if you could just wait a couple more weeks, that would be swell! :)

maybe some pregger pictures to come... i have to wait for the right day, you know? i know you are anxious to see them, brianne.

nesting

i guess you can say you are officially "nesting" when your husband starts to notice the house is a little cleaner than normal.
or maybe it was because jesse was actually home to witness my cleaning frenzy on saturday (i usually do the major cleaning while he is at work). he stopped me in the middle of my mopping and accused me of "nesting". (i wasn't even aware that HE was aware of the term) i guess i have been a little more obsessive about taking care of all the little things that need done before the baby comes, which mostly involves cleaning. washing her tiny clothes, washing all the baby gear that jacob blessed with his spit-up days, cleaning the bathrooms- really well, cleaning out closets that have nothing to do with the baby (laundry room storage closet), and next on the list- cleaning out the freezer.
i have had a burst of energy after our recent illnesses in the family. jacob was sick with the big "D" for 8 days, and in the middle of that i got a bug (dr was sure it was just morning sickness) where i had absolutely no appetite for over a week, felt nauseous all day long, had absolutely no energy and i came very close to being dehydrated. but now we are all better and are all ready and anxious for the arrival of baby pié.

i am sorry, family, that there are no new pictures to post. i keep thinking how i need to get one last picture of my swollen belly since none of my family gets to see the bump in person. maybe this week....

so instead of pictures, i will share this great new blog that my friend at work just shared with me today:

http://www.whatsfordin-din.blogspot.com/

this is going to quickly become one of my best friends, and i am looking forward to visiting this site frequently. :) thank you for sharing, jessie baker!

aunt rachael saves the day

aunt rachael came for a visit this weekend. jacob had lots of fun playing with his aunt. rachael came to the rescue on monday when jacob's babysitter was sick. rachael called off work and stayed in kentucky 1 day longer than planned (and got to change some pretty nasty diapers to boot). our hero!

we survived the recent storms, the remnants of hurricane ike, that passed through kentucky on sunday afternoon. we were fortunate to only have a minor amount of damage and loss of power for only 4 hours. there are many people in the cincinnati and northern kentucky areas that are still without power and had extensive damage to their homes.

our one excitement from the storm was the up-rooting of the outhouse we have out behind our barn. we're waiting to hear from our landlord whether or not they want to try to save it or destroy it.

and lastly, jacob got new fire truck slippers last week- we're getting ready for the cooler weather. he calls them "weeee-oooooh".