February & March

I haven't posted in awhile but have still been taking lots of pictures! We've had a busy past few months. I finally went back to work on March 1st but enjoyed my 2 months of maternity leave! We had a bunch of snowstorms this winter but this past weekend we had a taste of spring and loved it! I got a new Nikon SLR camera last weekend that takes amazing pictures...it was so worth every penny! I love it.

We are also getting ready for Jack's 2nd birthday in a few weeks! On his real birthday we are going to take him back to the Strasburg railroad...we can't wait!! His party will be on April 10th and we're looking forward to having everyone there to help us celebrate.

Emma is doing great and getting bigger everyday. She has started cooing and smiling a lot!! She had her 2 month checkup a few weeks ago and was 11 lbs, 2oz and just over 22 inches long!!

Below is a link to a lot of new pictures. Hope everyone enjoys and we're looking forward to seeing everyone soon!!

Click here for pics from February & March!

Videos of Emma!

Here are a number of videos of little Emma. She is doing great and will already be 4 weeks old on Tuesday! The time has gone by way too fast!


Emma when she was first born...just minutes old!



Jack LOVES his baby sister!



Emma hanging out in her crib



Emma loves getting her hairwashed like she's at the salon! Too funny!



Emma just found her voice and started cooing...what a great sound!

Emma Sally has arrived!!!

Emma Sally, January 5, 12:52pm, 7lbs, 6oz, 20 inches long!


We are soooo happy to announce that our sweet baby Emma Sally has finally arrived!! I had an induction scheduled for Monday January 4th at 9pm. The doctor decided the previous week that if I didn't go into labor on my own before Monday evening, that we would induce since my blood pressures were going up and down. He said it was best to just get the baby out rather than risk me getting pre-eclampsia again. When I first went in my BP was high but I knew it was just nerves. The doc started talking about possibly putting me on magnesium sulfate if it didn't go down and then I started really getting nervous. She said she'd run some labs and see how they were. Thankfully they came back ok and my BP ended up returning to normal. They started the induction and by the middle of the night I was starting to feel some contractions. In the a.m. they let me get up and shower and then I got back in bed to start the pitocin to get the contractions to be stronger and more regular. Got my epidural around 7:30am or so when I was about 3cm. It was awesome...the contractions were starting to get pretty painful and with the epidural I didn't feel anything. By late morning I was starting to feel pressure in my bottom with every contraction and from my first labor, I remember that was the sign it was time to push. The nurse checked me and I was only 5. For the next 20 minutes I kept feeling the pressure and she said let me just check you again and I was 10 and ready to go. I couldn't believe I went from 5 to 10cm in 20 minutes!!! I then had to wait for another 20 minutes or so because the doc was in the OR doing a c-section...I was going nuts...I didn't really have to push but was just anxious to deliver! Finally the nurse said the doc would be in in a few minutes so I could start pushing. I only pushed for 13 minutes and into the world came our sweet Emma!! The doc got in the room about 2 minutes before she was born! Recovery went well and we came home this past Thursday. I feel great since being home and overall feel like I have much more energy and am glad to not be pregnant anymore!

Since being home we have just been spending a lot of time being together as a family of four! Jack loves his baby sister! When he first saw her, she was in her swing and he ran right over to her and wanted to hold her. He loves giving her lots of hugs and kisses and always wants to hold her. He likes touching her and pointing out her nose, eyes, hair, etc. We have to sometimes remind him to be very gentle though!!

Below is a link to a lot of pictures we've taken over the past week. I have a few videos and promise I will post them soon. Hope you all enjoy and we can't wait for everyone to meet our sweet little girl!!

Click here for photos of our baby Emma!

XMAS 2009!!!

We had a great Xmas this year! I was worried that I'd miss it because the baby would decide she wanted to come out Xmas day but here I am 4 days later and still pregnant! Jack got sooooo many presents...he is definitely one very spoiled little boy!! He got lots of cool toys, trucks, books, clothes, and art supplies! Chris and I also made out well with lots of gift cards, picture frames, and new rugs and pillows for our new house!

We weren't sure how Jack was going to react Xmas morning. We've been talking with him a lot about Xmas and Santa and how Santa brings toys and presents. So Xmas morning we woke up and asked him if he thought Santa came and he said "Toys?" Then we had him walk out of our bedroom and check out the tree. Here is a video of his reaction...definitely not what we expected! Guess he was a bit overwhelmed!!



Jack's big gift was his Thomas the Train table! It took Daddy and Uncle Chris about 2 hours to setup on Xmas Eve. Jack was sooo excited when he saw it! Here's a video of him "opening" his gift!!



Click here to see all our pictures from Xmas Day

A Day Out With Thomas!

On December 4th we took Jack to the Strausburg Railroad for a special event called 'A Day Out With Thomas'. They hold it a few weekends a year and the REAL Thomas the Train is there for everyone to ride. It was really busy but they had it very well organized with trains leaving every 1/2 hour all day. The actual train ride is only about 20 minutes long. They also sell any and every type of Thomas the Train stuff you can imagine from the toy trains to clothes to books...the list goes on and on. Needless to say we had a great day and Jack absolutely LOVED it. We will definitely go back again next year!!

Click here to see all of our pictures from our Day Out With Thomas

Sears Pictures!

We went to Sears portrait studio last weekend to get Jack's pictures taken. He's now 19 months old and we haven't had any taken since he was a year. The girl assigned to us to take our pictures was beyond awful but luckily the manager came in and took over and we ended up getting some pretty decent shots. The whole thing from beginning to end took 2 hours because the girl we got was so bad. The manager ended up giving us free pictures for next time though. Anyways, here is a slideshow of some of the shots from our session.

Halloween!!

Despite the rainy weather, we had a great Halloween this year with Jack! He dressed up as Elmo, his favorite Sesame Street character. We got him all dressed in his costume and had him look at himself in the mirror. He couldn't stop smiling! Then we took him out trick or treating. We only went to about 6 or 7 houses as Jack was pretty slow taking his time looking at all the different houses and their Halloween decorations and pumpkins. He was really trying to figure out what we were doing and what was going on but as soon as we got to the door and the people put out the bowl of candy, he didn't hesitate! He reached his hand right in and grabbed handfuls!! Smart little guy!!

Click here for more Halloween pics!