He's here!!! William Henry arrived on Saturday, Jan. 24th at 9:48 a.m. weighing 7 lbs. 1 oz. and is 18 inches long. He is soooo wee compared to his big brother we can hardly believe it! He is absolutely precious and we are totally in love. We came home from the hospital on Monday and have been taking it easy since. I won't go into details about it all right now, thought I'd just whet your appetite with a few photos. More later!
We have had a pretty quiet week here. Call it the calm before the storm if you will. I've been enjoying my last days with only one little boy at my side. He's been such a sweet boy and cooperative for the most part. We've played trains, built towers and parking garages with blocks, read tons of books, raced cars, built things with tools, assembled puzzles, and cooked many an awesome meal in his microwave. He was also very helpful in cleaning bathrooms with me this week and helping Steven paint stripes on the wall in his new room. There's something a little sad about giving up my alone time with Matt, but at the same time I am SO excited to meet this new little baby boy we've been dreaming about for 9 months now. 
This picture is from our visit to the park on Wednesday. Matt & Ava ended up exploring on the other side of a steep ditch that I was not physically able to climb...so I looked on while Joy & Steven watched the kids whack at a huge boulder with big sticks and build birds' nests.
William Henry makes his debut tomorrow morning. I won't be posting for awhile...soon enough though.
Oh my. My sweet niece, Caroline, turned 7 on Friday and decided to have her birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. The party invitation sat on our fridge for a couple weeks but Matt didn't know the party destination until we were in the car. Good thing he was strapped in because my goodness he was excited. Cousins, Ava, Aunts & Uncles, Chuck E. Cheese, rides, games, pizza, birthday cake! It was a big day.
I'm not sure what his favorite part was. He ran from one game to the other darting between hordes of people (Saturday is busy at that place; trying to keep an eye on him was difficult to say the least). I like it when he climbs up into the playscape because at least I know where he is! Later, he settled down at the table for pizza and birthday cookie cake. Caroline looked so cute. You could tell though she's not entirely excited about having all the attention on her, but she enjoyed herself and sang along with old Chuck for a bit. 
Some of you know this already, but our son LOVES road signs. It borders on obsession. He always wants to know what roads we're on, what roads we might potentially be going on, and he wants to know where he is in relation to his favorite roads. He recognizes them all while we are driving in the car, and the excitement in his voice when he sees 183 or I-35 is indescribable.
It was a bit of a wild week around here! We are in a mad rush to get things done before this sweet baby comes. It's down to the wire with us as usual, but I think we might be prepared for a newborn now! We have had sweet friends and family come over and help us out around the house all week. Sarah spent Tuesday with me reorganizing closets and getting rid of a lot of stuff. And bless her, she even took our old castaways to Goodwill on her way home. Dad & Ann made a day trip on Saturday to help us clean, rearrange, and work on Matt's room. I am thrilled to report that Matt is finally in his big bed in his new room! Friday night was his first night in there, and he was SO excited to be able to sleep in his big bed after all this long awaited hype about it. The boy did great. It honestly could not have gone any better. He fell asleep immediately and slept through the night without a sound. Yay!!! We're so proud of him. Now, if only potty training will go that well once we feel brave enough to tackle it...
Saturday night we joined the Reners and Morans at Dart Bowl to celebrate Joy's birthday which was actually Dec. 30th. Dirty cheese enchiladas were enjoyed by many of us, and once we were done we ended up bowling at a different bowling alley since the wait there was out of control.
Matt was SO excited to get to bowl. So much that he didn't even want to eat dinner. He stood there with tears rolling down his cheeks while we ate because he desperately wanted to bowl. Well, we finally did and he had a blast. He'd stand there with his hands behind his back and watch his very slowly moving ball meander its way to the pins. Hilarious.
Yesterday after church we watched football and enjoyed visiting with the Reners. The kids took awesome naps, and once they woke up we headed outside for a little science experiment that Zach had cooked up. Mentos & Diet Coke. It was spectacular. The kids and adults enjoyed it.
Then it was playdoh time.
Matt has really been wanting to read this book a lot lately. It's pretty cute.
To finish out our December we had a couple more birthdays to celebrate. Ken, Steven's dad, turned 70 on the 30th! We celebrated with a hamburger cookout and cake at our house. Matt blew out the candles and enjoyed his ice cream more than the cake this time. Ken and my dear friend Joy share the same birthday, so...Happy Birthday Ken & Joy!!!
Yesterday the Reners spent the day at our house helping us out with some projects, bless their hearts. Honestly, I pray that everyone has incredible friends like that in their lives--those two would do anything for anyone, and we are so blessed to have them as our friends. Steven & Zach spent the day putting up crown molding in Matt's room, and Joy helped me take down all my numerous and obnoxiously glittery Christmas decorations. The kids did a great job playing together and staying out of our hair for the most part, and later in the afternoon we let them run off their energy at the park. Then the cowgirl rode into town. Yee-haw! Happy 2009 everyone!
