Baby Presley

Introducing Presley Kate Hutchison!  Our beautiful niece was born on Monday weighing 7 lbs.10oz.  She is such a sweet baby girl and we are enjoying her so much already.  She is healthy and doing so great.  Today she will get to go home for the first time and we are so excited for Adam & Kara.  What an amazing blessing!  Our entire family is so thankful for her!

Proud parents!

Cousins!  Ava meets Presley for the first time. Such a sweet picture!

We laughed when she asked us if she could "pet the baby."  She's been the only baby for 2 and half years but she has lots of experience with dogs in our family :)

Ava hasn't stopped talking about Presley since Monday morning.  I know she has to be excited to finally see the baby we've all been talking about for so long.  How fun it's going to be watch them grow up together!

I LOVE this picture!  I think she was trying to smile for me :) She looks so tiny against her daddy's hand.  What a sweet little princess!

"I sing for joy at the works of your hands." Psalms 92:4

7 More Weeks!

Today we are 32 weeks pregnant and our baby boy weighs almost 4 pounds.  With just 7 weeks to go, Jeff thought a "belly shot" would be fun.  I can count the number of  pregnancy photos I took with Ava on one hand and I can't say I've been any better about it this time around.  But now both kids have one for their baby books and that's good enough for me!

This pregnancy has had only a few differences from my first.  While Jeff disagrees, I know I was much less sick this time than with Ava.  I was sick for only a few weeks in the beginning and I can remember being sick into my third trimester the first time!  I've learned what heartburn is for the first time ever and I've had cravings for red meat that are incredibly out of character for me.  Burgers and chili have been a couple of favorites.  I guess this little guy likes his protein and peanut butter wasn't cutting it for him!

Our sweet boy is scheduled to make his arrival on March 14th.  We have had a lot of fun working to make his room ready.  There are still a few things to do but we are pretty much ready for him.

Thank you to Nana for making the valance the colors that we needed and thanks to Grammy for the adorable wall hangings!

 This dresser was mine when I was a little girl and I repainted it for Ava a couple of years ago.  I painted the trim in green so all I had to do was change the pink knobs out for blue ones and it was good to go!

 Keegan's Great Aunt Kathy gave us these shelves for Christmas and Jeff painted the wooden train & car for the two larger shelves.  I love them because they are hand painted and match the theme perfectly!

Ready for Christmas 2011!  I know it's a bit early but it was on sale after Christmas and I loved the train!

Yes, our 2 and half year old still fits in a bumbo!  She loves to play in Keegan's room when we are working in there.  She tells me all the time that she's going to hold him and feed him and change his "poo-poo diapers."  Sounds like she's got it covered....guess I won't have much to do :)

Snow Day

I know that our family in St. Louis and Illinios will find this post quite funny, but when snow comes to Texas we are very entertained!  It makes for a fun day of play outside :) We had several inches fall in just a few hours, so we had plenty to work with.  Ava was excited to wear her new snow boots that Pop & Grammy gave her for Christmas.  Once she learned how to walk in her four layers of clothes, she couldn't get enough!

Ava gave our snowman a carrot for a nose.

Not a bad looking snowman!

Jeff showed Ava how to make a snow angel. His turned out really well! 

ICE & Christmas 2010

This was the first year we visited the Gaylord Texan at Christmas time.  Jeff surprised me by taking the day off on my birthday and we headed out to see ICE, which is an incedible ice sculpture display at the resort with a theme of Charlie Brown Christmas this year.  Every room was a different scene from the movie made completely of scuplted and colored ice.  Ava was totally amazed!  The temperature in the exhibit is 9 below zero so we wore large coats inside.  We had lunch and walked around the hotel after buying tickets.  It was a great birthday!

In the very last room of the ice exhibit is a large nativity scene and the Christmas story plays in the background.  Ava was excited to see baby Jesus and we were excited to see Christ in a public forum.  What an incedible sight to see among so much commercialism! 

Ava sitting next to a sculpted reindeer

Ava checking out Santa with Daddy......but keeping her distance

Christmas Eve Church Service

Christmas Eve at Poppy & Grammy's House. 

Ava pushes Elmo in her new shopping cart while Daddy & Uncle are busy putting presents together

  

Opening presents was so much fun that Ava decided she should open all of Keegan's gifts for him this year :)

She's probably beginning to wonder where this phantom brother is!  Just eleven more weeks!

Ladybug Pillow Pet from Aunt Kara & Uncle Adam!

Christmas at Nana & Gramps House

After 3 days of Christmas, all three of us needed a very long nap!

These are a few of my favorite things........

I know that Christmas will be different for Ava every year; just as it is to every child. I wanted to take a minute to quickly list Ava's favorite things about Christmas 2010 (random as they may be.)  I hope to remember the little things that made us smile this season...... all because they made her smile.

1. The Grinch and his dog Max (we've seen the movie more than a dozen times already)

2. Mini Candy Canes (unless they come from Santa)

3. Singing along to "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas"

4. Her Pooh Bear & Piglet Ornament (it moves branches on the tree several times a week)

5. Hearing the "Snoopy Song" on the Radio (the piano song on Charlie Brown Christmas)

6. Sticking Bows to Presents once they are Wrapped 

Busy Sunday Afternoon

I feel like there are so many things to try to fit into the holiday season and not enough time to do everything.  Ava is at such a fun age that everything we do is more exciting than its ever been because of her enjoyment and funny comments.  Since she was born, I've looked forward to making cookies with her so we gave it our best shot last night.  We decorated snow men, stockings & Christmas tree cookies with chocolate chips, sprinkles & bright red icing (that I'm about to have to clean up off our table and kitchen floor.)  While it was probably more of a mess than a success it was such a fun time together!  The funniest part was I began to notice that everytime I looked away or walked away to get something her decorated cookies were ending up in her mouth....one by one.  I wasn't even able to take picures of the ones she made because they disappeared so quickly!  She would tell you that eating them is much more fun than decorating them :)

With all the business of the holidays, this pregnancy is flying by!  We realized yesterday that our baby boy will be here in exactly three months and we still have so much to do.  It's so different decorating for a boy than a girl.  I have had to completely switch gears and remove myself from all things pink, frilly & floral.  We decided to buy wooden letters for Keegan and paint them in the colors of his room.  Of course Ava helped us paint (with her own brush and a bowl of water.)  It only took a couple of hours and we are really excited about how they turned out!  Now we have to decide if we will hang them above the crib or stand them up on a wall shelf.

Ava's visit with Saint Nick

Every year Santa visits our neighborhood tree lighting festivites.  We enjoy carriage rides and a petting zoo along with hot chocolate & cookies.  This was Ava's second year to sit in Santa's lap and while she had to be bribed with a cookie and did not come close to giving us a smile, I think we would all agree that she didn't look as terrified as last year! 

She definitely had more fun feeding the animals with Daddy in the petting zoo.