Visiting with Baby Isla...

We have been lucky enough to visit with baby Isla a lot since she's been home!  She is so precious and I could just sit and hold her all day :)  Crewsie was a little jealous the first time we went to visit, but he has been so good with her and loves holding her and touching her hair!

Uncle Blakey and his new niece!

Popa and his grand daughter!

PRECIOUS!

Auntie Casey is in love!

Great Grammy Cooper!

Pops and Gram and Isla!  Love these precious moments!

Happy birthday to my big boy!

Our big boy turned 3 on Tuesday, March 27th!!!!  It's still hard to believe that I have a 3 year old!  Time has seemed to go by so incredibly fast, but we have enjoyed every minute with him in these last 3 years!

Tuesday we had a little pizza and ice cream cake party at our house (because you have to celebrate on your actual birthday!) but this Sunday is his party with family :)  I let him pick out his cake and of course he picked the brightest cake they had and it had to be Spiderman....although, he doesn't even really know who Spiderman is...he just knew it was the most colorful cake he could find!  The entire day he kept asking me "Is it my birthday yet, Momma?"  And I would have to tell him that it was his birthday ALL day!  I know he had a wonderful day and he is a wonderful little boy!

He was swinging his balloon around and dancing to his singing monkey that Uncle Blake and Aunt Casey got him!

Here are some Crewsie facts:

Haven't gone in for his 3 year check-up but last I checked he was 35 lbs. and 39" tall!

His legs have finally caught up a little, so he's wearing a 3T bottom and 4T top

He has been potty trained a FULL YEAR (such a smart boy!) and in his big boy bed almost 14 months (this was not our choice, but he crawled out and he didn't leave us with a choice)!

Still sleeps with a million stuffed animals, but his blankie is #1!

LOVES having me rub his feet....everyday before nap and bed time I read him a couple of books and then shut the lights off crawl back in bed with him and rub his feet for a few minutes...then I give him a kiss and leave his room.....I continue to love our bed time routine :)

He continues to be a great sleeper!  Wakes around 8-9 a.m....nap time around 1:30 or 2:30 p.m. (still sleeps 2-3 hours every day!) and then bed time around 8:30 p.m.

Loves warm chocolate milk (but I use the sugar free kind, so it makes me feel better!)

Loves sweets...Mommy limits them at home, but at Yaya and Grammy's it seems to be a free for all!  haha!

He has started dressing himself...I will walk in his room and he will have changed in different pants...goofball!

The older he has become the pickier of an eater he has become, but honestly still eats pretty good, at least most days....some days are worst than others.  He is a semi-vegetarian (haha!) and eats very little meat (that probably has something to do with me since I'm not a huge meat eater either).

He loves to wrestle....and ride his bike...and drive his tractor....and help in the yard....and loves his doggies and loves when Mommy makes them "talk"....he loves trains.....animals and the zoo....he loves playing "office" and stamping paper and opening envelopes....he loves coloring and stickers....he loves his Mommy and Daddy and tells it to us all of the time!

He LOVES reading books and has even started recognizing some words....he also loves spelling his name and always pointing out the letters in his name.  His favorite books right now are any Thomas the train books, Elmo books and Berenstain Bear books are a new favorite the last month or so...and I love that he loves the Berenstain Bears because they were a favorite when I was little too :)

He recently started counting backwards...we were on the swings and he said "5,4,3,2,1!"  I was shocked, because I didn't know he could do that!

He's a sensitive little guy...he will be watching a show and can tell someone doesn't feel good and will get upset...he even does this with some books we read.

He didn't start watching t.v. until this fall/winter and I hate that we started it...not that I purposely sat him in front of the t.v., but it just kind of happened.  We watched a little kid movie with him one day and he got hooked.  So, now we have to limit the t.v....but he does watch some cute shows...Backyardigans, Little Einsteins and Berenstain Bears are his favorites...we try to limit shows to just a couple a day.

He knows some swear words...I won't go into detail because I don't want to offend anyone (and more importantly embarass myself!) but a few have popped up here and there...nothing horrible, but nothing you want repeated for sure!  He also likes the word "dummy!"  I think this is because I'm always yelling at the dogs to stop barking and then I will say to Crew "Those dummy dogs!"

He has said a lot of funny stuff and has also started to thrown in more animated physical movements... like bopping his head around and a lot of funny hand movements when he's talking...he's very animated!

I was cleaning his closet and he came in and said in front of me and Greg "Why are you in my closet and messing up all my stuff Mommy?!"  All the meanwhile bopping his head and throwing his hands around!

He's a smart little cookie and his mind is like a steel trap and he doesn't seem to forget ANYTHING (although, I wish sometimes he would!)!  He picked up a ball that we got last year on vacation and he said "Remember when I got his ball and that kitty scared me!"  He repeats stuff like this all of the time and half of the time Greg and I don't even remember!

Well, that's all I can think of off the top of my head for now...All I know is that these last 3 years have been the best of our lives and I can't wait for many, many more!

Love you sweet baby boy!  You make my life more wonderful each and every day!

Happy birthday Crew!

Bounce house...

We finally were able to get out his bounce house from Santa!  haha!  We had gorgeous weather for about a week straight, but now it's been cooler this week...I'm just glad we took advantage of the weather when we did.  Thankfully it looks like it will be back very soon!

He LOVED it!

Then a storm started rolling in...

Cousins!!!

Crewsie and Isla meet!  We were so excited to be able to visit Auntie Tay and Uncle Joe and Isla yesterday!  And I was SUPER excited for Crewsie to get to meet his new little cousin!  It's so amazing, surreal, thrilling that my little baby sister had her own little girl and now I get to have a neice to spoil and love.  Life is AMAZING!

Crew was so excited to get to touch and hold baby Isla!  Although, he didn't like so much when Momma held her...jealous!!!  After about a minute of holding her he said "Momma, you can put her down now."  Hahaha....a stinker as usual!

Yaya now has 2 grandbabies!

Sleepy girl still has her days and nights mixed up!  Aunt Tay says she's WIDE awake at night...haha!

Yaya and her granddaughter...how sweet :)

Tay is doing great and feeling very good!

The apricot and cream blanket is one that Yaya crocheted...she did one for Crew when he was a baby too and he sleeps with it every night!  Tay said that Isla already loves hers and cuddles into it!

We all love you precious peanut!

Baby Isla is here!

Isla Lauren (Lauren in Tay's middle name too!) entered this world on Saturday, March 17th, 2012 at 6:27 p.m.!!!  St. Patty's Day baby (holiday birthdays seem to run in our family!).  She weighed in at 6 lbs. 4 ozs. and 19" long!  She has the cutest little nose and lips and lots of beautiful brown hair...she is just perfect!  Tay and Joe are beyond thrilled as is the rest of our family!  Congrats Auntie Tay and Uncle Joe...you two are already WONDERFUL parents!

A bit about the birth story...

Tay was having a tiny bit of an issue with her blood pressure, so her doc sent her to the hospital last Friday to have it checked out a little more.  I drove her in to the hospital around 1:30 p.m.  When we got to Triage they started monitoring the baby, Tay's blood pressure, took some blood, etc.  All was good except her blood pressure was still a little elevated and not coming down like they were hoping, so they said it's time to have this baby!  They got her admitted and checked in to Labor and Delivery Room #10!  Daddy Joe came shortly after she was checked in...Yaya, Uncle Blake and Aunt Casey also showed up a little while later. 

The docs started her on Cytotec and some Magnesium.  The Magnesium instantly made Tay feel awful :(  So all night she kept getting the Cytotec to prepare her for labor and Pitocin was started the next morning.  Aunt Casey and I drove in Saturday morning to see how everything was going and visit for a while.  All was good and she was slowly progressing.  After a few hours we left to go home and knew we would be going back in a couple of hours.  I was home a couple of hours when my mom called to tell me Tay was having the baby.  And within minutes my mom called me back and told me she had a baby girl!  To make a very long and scary story short the baby's heart rate started dropping and she was delivered within minutes following an emergency c-section.  I was scared to death and I can't even imagine what was going through Tay and Joe's heads and how they must have been feeling.  But the end result is magnificent and they have a healthy and happy baby girl!  They are home now and Momma, Daddy, and baby are doing wonderful :)

Milk mustache!  Aunt Taytay says she nurses like a champ!

A little green bow for St. Patty's Day!

I love buying clothes for Crew, but nothing compares to being able to buy lots of pink and purple!

We LOVE you sweet child...welcome to this big, wonderful world!