Welcome to the World - Annabel Claire!

We are so excited to announce the arrival of our precious baby girl - Annabel Claire! She was born on April 2nd and weighed in at 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 inches long. She's perfectly beautiful in every way!

Miss Annabel was due March 27th but seemed quite comfortable right where she was and an inducement was set for April 2nd. We went to the hospital at 7am very excited for our little darling to make an appearance.

We thought we'd have a baby by noon but when nothing was really happening by noontime, we realized it was going to be a long day. I was hooked up to the monitors so I couldn't even walk around. And, unfortunately we couldn't find much on TV. Neil read the paper to me, even the horoscopes. Waiting...

At 10pm, we finally agreed with the doctor that it was time for a c-section. And, by 10:30pm, our baby was born. It's a GIRL!

Such a sweet baby girl.

First photo of our family of five!

Thank goodness Grandma Hunter had made it to New York in time for Annabel's arrival. The boys were in good hands and we didn't have to worry about transporting them between our neighbors/friends/family or calling anyone at 2am. Here's Grandma and Liam meeting Annabel for the first time. They are inspecting her tiny hands.

"Yea, yea, we love our baby sister. She's so cute. But, what did you bring us for snacktime, Grandma?"

This little lady attracted quite a crowd of admirers at the hospital. Nana Rudden and Aunt Annie came to visit!

Uncle Colin and Doreen also came to meet Annabel. And, they brought her an entire wardrobe of dresses and cute girly outfits. She's all set for her first year!

My friend Ayana lives near the hospital so she came by after work to meet Annabel. She delivered her son at the same hospital two years ago. Two other friends, Ana and Katherine, also came by one evening. They brought desserts and wine! They also stayed an hour and a half past visiting hours. It was one of the rare times we could get together without one our 9 kids combined interrupting the gossip.

I'm so excited to have a girl. I believe there will be lots of bows and pink in the future. One morning at the hospital they brought her in wearing her first bow!

And, she tried on her second bow. Uh, oh. Maybe she doesn't like bows.

Daddy's little girl already. Neil bought three containers of hand sanitizer to have around the house. He doesn't want any germs near his precious girl.

At four days old, we welcomed Annabel home. She slept the entire ride from the hospital and then slept for a few hours after we arrived. It was such a blessing that she eased us slowly into our new life with three little ones.

We are so in love with our three wonderful children and look forward to another busy year. Hopefully I can keep up on the blog. Let the chaos begin!

Winter Fun Ends, Ready for Spring!

This post is a random assortment of the fun we've been having this winter since they didn't really fit into another post. The combination of cold winter temperatures and exhaustion from pregnancy have kept us home much more than usual during the past few months. We've managed to find some creative ways to pass the time. And, since Spring is around the corner, we're now thrilled to be coming out of hibernation!

Play Doh is a fun way to keep busy!

Although Dylan enjoys playing with the PlayDoh, at some point in the activity he tries eating it and then it becomes a game to see if he can eat it before I notice. The activity just doesn't entertain him as long as Liam.

This is a much better way for Dylan to play with PlayDoh. It's safely in the container!

Mr. Potato Head is lots of fun but what's even more fun is when the boys pretend they are the potatoes.

It only snowed twice this winter (and once in October) so we rushed to get the kids outside to enjoy it each time!

Dylan seems to dislike hats and gloves. He would rather put his bare hands in the snow.

Liam loved the snow mountain! Even when it had almost completely melted, he asked if we could go outside and climb on the snow mountain.

Dylan's first day of school! Both boys now go to Happy Hearts two days a week for six hours. Neither of them wanted to pose for the photo. They just wanted to go to school! They have fun doing art projects, playing at the playground, circle time, learning numbers/letters/colors, storytime and making new friends. It also gives mom a break to get some things done around the house, to run errands and to prepare for the new baby. Once the baby arrives, I will have two days a week to bond with the new little one.

The boys visited the dentist! This was Liam's second check-up. No cavities! Dylan also had his first visit. His teeth are looking good and the pacifier at night isn't causing his front teeth to buck out. Yea! I don't have a photo because Dylan sat on my lap.

Whatever entertains them is fine by me. Playing with laundry dumped out of the hamper is definitely a fun activity. It kept them busy for quite awhile. Now I just need to teach them to help me fold the clothes!

The boys like to find hidden places to play. We have a tent that they love and we sometimes make forts out of blankets and the couch. On this day, they decided to move the chairs against the wall and dumped out some toys to make a small playspace. They were so cute giggling while playing together.

Lots of snuggle time. Daddy and his boys!

What's a house with two boys without some wrestling!

The boys enjoy visiting Nana Rudden!

Here's Dylan admiring one of Grandpa Rudden's paintings.

We still attend our weekly Playgroup at the church. With the baby coming, my duties as co-facilitator are about to come to an end for awhile but I'm sure we will catch a few more groups before the summer break.

This winter we've spent lots and lots of time reading books. The kids often bring books to us first thing in the morning, especially if we get new ones at the library. And, all day it seems that if I sit down, a book is brought over to me. Dylan now calls a number of books by name. Of course, the bedtime routine includes books too!

The weather in March has been really mild so the winter hibernation seems to be coming to an end. We try to get outside as often as I can muster up the energy. We had a picnic on this beautiful day and the kids ruled the playground since no one else was even there. We came back the next day with our sand toys since the sand was such a huge hit! They will have so much fun at the beach this summer.

With the nice weather rolling in, we've headed out to the farm twice now. Liam loves running around and is fearless around the animals. Dylan was so thrilled to see the animals live. He knows all his animals and animal sounds from the books we read so he ran around the farm pointing out animals and naming them. My favorite animal to hear him shout about was, "Chicken!"

Since it's not exactly a petting zoo, they couldn't touch the animals. However, Neil found some animals for them to pet. Our little pig wrangler!

Yee Haw!

Since we've been cooped up so much this winter, the boys can find fun as long as we're outside. They don't need any toys. They had a blast sitting on the manhole cover in our condo complex parking lot.

Winter seems to be officially over! We really can't complain because it hasn't been a snowy winter. Nonetheless, we are so happy that warm weather is finally here and that our new baby will be arriving soon to enjoy it with us!

And, Baby Makes...

No, the baby's not here yet! I just wanted to write a quick post to reflect on the time before each of our kids was born.

And, Baby Makes...THREE!
The day before Liam was born (seven days late), Neil and I took some photos at the Croton Dam. Although it was February, it was a beautiful, chilly day and we took a long walk hoping the baby would decide to come. And, he did - 24 hours later!

Ready to become a family of three!

And, Baby Makes...FOUR!
We wanted to capture the same photos when expecting Dylan. I also heard that being around water at the end of pregnancy could result in my water breaking. It didn't work. He took another 7 days to arrive after this outing. This time the photos are taken at the end of August and it was a very hot day.

Almost a family of four!

And, Baby Makes...FIVE!
Last weekend, we trekked up to the Dam for another round of pre-baby pictures. The baby was not due for another 9 days so I wasn't expecting that the waterfall or the walk would set me into labor this time. I just wanted to make sure we got the photos in case the little one decided to come early. These photos show us enjoying a beautiful, almost-Spring day in late March. It was so sunny the kids couldn't look at the camera.

Wow! Our family has grown so fast. I can't believe we're just days away from becoming a family of five!

Although we didn't do too much walking, after visiting the Dam I had to sit for the rest of the evening. Thank you to Neil for making a delicious pot roast and veggie dinner in the crock pot. At 39 weeks pregnant, I'm really uncomfortable and ready to meet this little person! One week (or less and hopefully not more) to go!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Taking great pride in our Irish heritage, we had fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day!

The weekend before St. Patrick's Day, we attended a party at our church. Neil was on the setup and cleanup crew but was able to join us for the dinner. Of course we dined on corned beef and cabbage and listened to festive music, including bagpipers. Neil drank Guinness and we enjoyed Irish soda bread. They had a room set up for the kids to enjoy chicken fingers and hot dogs, watch movies and do crafts all under the watchful eyes of the high school youth group. It was so great to socialize with our friends for the evening without the constant interruptions that typically occur while dining with kids. If we hadn't used the babysitting, we would have had ten kids at our table!

On the official St. Patrick's Day, my little leprechauns had fun dressing up!

We had a housewarming/birthday party to attend and although it wasn't a St. Patrick's Day themed party, we brought the Irishness!

I guess we aren't going to have a St. Patrick's Day baby. The names Patrick and Patricia are no longer in the mix. I can't wait until next year when I can enjoy a Guinness and some Bailey's Irish Cream! Wait, maybe I can have some next week!

One Month Countdown to Baby #3!

Can you tell that I'm trying to wrap up unfinished tasks before the baby arrives? I think this is my fourth blog post in a week after a 2 month break.

We are very excited to finally meet our third baby! I'm 36 weeks pregnant and the baby is due March 27th.

Since I didn't include very many photos from the pregnancy in the blog, I thought I'd put them into their own post. Here's a family picture from August when I was 7 weeks pregnant. Grandma Hunter took the photo when she was visiting. On this trip, we told her she was going to be a grandma for the 5th time!

This photo was taken in October at 17 weeks. I definitely showed a lot sooner with this pregnancy!

Here I am in December at 24 weeks pregnant.

And, here's the current BIG belly at 36 weeks. It's hard to believe that the baby is still going to gain approximately two more pounds over the next four weeks. I might tip over.

Although it's my third baby, my friends were so generous and threw me a surprise baby shower. They did a diaper drive and gave me an awesome new diaper bag. We now have enough diapers to last us through the summer! Here's the awesome diaper cake they made! 

It was a breakfast shower so we enjoyed scones, coffee and cake! Here's a beautiful bouquet of flowers that I got too.

A sneak peek of the baby. This is the 32 week ultrasound photo. At this visit, the baby weighed in at 3lbs. 13oz. We were thrilled by the surprise 4D picture that the technician gave us. Since I've been told it's hard to see, I included labels to help you visualize.

The nesting instinct has finally kicked in and we're starting to get the house ready for the new baby. One of the most pressing "to do's" is to pick the names! After reading hundreds of boys and girls names out loud from a baby naming book lent to me by a friend, Liam finally decided the only name he liked was Wilhelmina. At this point, all ideas are welcome!