Ann Evelyn's 1st week at home

A few of my favorite, most memorable pictures from Ann Evelyn's 1st week at home...

Will we have another thumb sucker?

My baby girl wearing the dress my mother made for me to wear home from the hospital. She must like it... see that smile?

Snuggling after her 1st bath

Big brother checking on Ann Evelyn

and holding her hand.

I think this picture is so funny - Forrest giggling in the background, and Ann Evelyn looking as if her brother is already annoying her. :)

Andrew holds his baby sister

The boys love patting her little head.

Such a sweet picture of Ann Evelyn reaching up to touch Forrest's face.

Kisses from the boys

And, even though Ann Evelyn is not in this picture, it definitely represents her 1st week at home. We had a little problem with Andrew climbing into Forrest's crib at night. Most nights Forrest would wake us up crying, mad that Andrew had joined him in his crib and disturbed his sleep. (Forrest is our good sleeper!) But one morning, Wilson went in to find this - pretty cute! We can't understand how Andrew could have possibly been comfortable enough to sleep though. I think we've finally moved past this issue, and the boys seem to be back to sleeping soundly - thank goodness! I expect to be up at night with Baby Girl, but having to get up with all 3 little ones at night was getting pretty rough!!

Funny Forrest

This boy keeps us laughing. He is really so funny and such a mess. Wilson took him for a check-up last week. He weighed 30 lbs (over 100th%) and was 31 inches (80th%). As Mrs. Betty one of our favorite nursery workers says, he's a "big ole lump of sugar!" Last week as he and Wilson were leaving the house, he went over to see Ann Evelyn in her bouncy seat and said, "Bye-bye Sissy". It was his first word 2-word sentence and what a precious one it was!

My Sweet Andrew

2 weeks old

Ann Evelyn is 2 weeks old today! She went for her 2 week appointment yesterday, and the doctor said that she looks wonderful. She weighed in at 8 lbs 13 oz which the doctor said was great. (Her discharge weight from Woman's was 7 lbs 12 oz.) She is so sweet and good. Her doctor told us that 3rd babies are usually the easiest... but that as a toddler they are sometimes the most difficult because they've had 2 years to watch older siblings! :) I guess we'll enjoy the "easiness" while it lasts - and pray that the bad toddler stage won't be true for Ann Evelyn! We are certainly enjoying every minute with her now. The picture above is one I took of Wilson and Ann Evelyn this morning. It's been a sweet, quiet morning here... the boys spent the night with May-May and Bubby last night, and Wilson has the day off today. We've enjoyed our morning with our baby girl.

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

She's been with us for a week and a day, and we are in love! Ann Evelyn is oh so sweet! We didn't know what we were missing without a little girl in our house. I'm so thankful the Lord has blessed us with yet another precious child. The boys are a bit of a mess, but it's already apparent that they love their sister. I hope to share more pictures and stories in the next few days, but for now, here are some pictures of when Ann Evelyn was born...

I'm not a big fan of posting picture like this of me :), but I had to share it. This was taken outside of Woman's Hospital around 11:00 a.m. It's hard to believe we were holding our baby girl in our arms just 3 1/2 hours later. Maybe I'll write a little more about her birth story later.

Here she is! Born at 2:32 p.m., August 6th.

Proud parents! We were thrilled to have a baby girl!!

Wilson introducing his daughter.

8 lbs, 6 oz
She was 3 weeks early! I wonder how big she would have been had she stayed put a little longer?!?

Precious, little feet with ten, tiny toes

Big brothers, Andrew and Forrest, looking in to see their baby sister.

Forrest meets Ann Evelyn.
He's so sweet and gentle with her! And he's super interested in her paci! :)

Can you tell how sweet she is? :)

A kiss from big brother, Andrew. He's been telling everyone about his new sister, Ann Evelyn.
I love hearing him say her name!

Our baby girl!

It's a Girl!

We are so excited to have a precious baby girl in our arms! It was quite a surprise for us to bring her into the world almost 3 weeks early... but even more surprising to bring a GIRL into the world! Many eyes were filled with tears in the room as our doctor exclaimed, "It's an Annie!" I just ''knew" we'd be welcoming another little boy and had convinced Wilson of it, too. What a sweet, sweet surprise to see that the Lord had planned a little girl for our family. We were so blessed to have an easy labor and delivery and most importantly, to have a healthy baby with us now. God is so good and truly our cup runneth over!

"Ann Evelyn" Shirley

August 6, 2009

8 lbs 6 oz, 20 1/2 inches

2:32 p.m.

Her big brothers are doing fantastic and are so proud of their baby sister already! Andrew talked to his Aunt Izzy on the phone yesterday and told her "I have a baby sister... Evelyn". Hearing him say this melted my heart! I'll post more pictures of our baby girl when we are settled at home.

From the mouth of babes...

Have I ever mentioned how much we love our church?! We love it and feel so blessed to be a part of it. It's especially touching to see our own children being ministered to. That's exactly what Wilson and I saw last week during VBS. Two very sweet friends of mine (who also have little ones at home) were Andrew's teachers. They worked so hard to make the week fun and special for these little ones - all the while teaching them about Jesus! How thankful I am for them!! Andrew had his Bible verse memorized with motions by Wednesday and most days came home sharing his "cheer" for the day with us. One day at lunch he looked at Wilson and exclaimed with a smile, "Jesus saves sinners!" It did our hearts good to see this evidence of the Spirit working in our little boy's heart. Hope you enjoy this little video of Andrew's Bible verse. I've typed the "translation" below in case you have a hard time understanding... Philippians is a hard word to say! :)



"At the name of Jesus every knee should bow in Heaven and on earth and under the earth..."
Philippians 2:10

Fountains

What great entertainment for this hot summer heat!!

Cow Costumes = Free Chicken

For a little family fun last week, we headed over to Chick-fil-a for Cow Appreciation Day. Yes, we dressed up like cows and ate free chicken. :) The boys and I actually went more for a "cowboy cow" theme. We didn't make Wilson go so far into the costuming since we took him to the airport afterwards to join the youth for their Yakama mission trip! The boys had a great time pulling their cow spots off just as fast as I could put them on!

And, yes, you also have a nice profile view of my pregnant belly - it might be the only picture I have of my belly this go 'round!

Summertime, summertime

Hugs!

Rock Candy - loved this growing up!

Playing outside - Forrest loves climbing up into the play set.

Cooling off in the pool! The boys love sliding into the pool!

They began sliding in on their bottoms, then Andrew slid down on his belly....

then, Forrest thought he needed to do it, too! As I've said before, Forrest wants to do everything Andrew does!

What we've been up to...

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted last... where has the time gone?   Summers fly by at our house, and before I know it, we'll have a new baby in our midst!    

So what have we been up to?  Well, we've had another fun family week at the beach (where we hung out with great friends, too!).  Wilson made a trip to Colorado - the group had a blast.  He hiked and enjoyed some awesome scenery, even a little snow.  The little boys and I enjoyed some time with May-May and Bubby while Dada was gone.  They helped nurse our yucky summer colds (which I'm thrilled to say that we've finally recovered from),  and Andrew enjoyed a few days of VBS with May-May.  He also planned a "water party" that the little boys across the street from May-May joined us for.  We played in the pool, Elmo sprinker, and slip n' slide.  Then Bubby grilled hot dogs for us, and we ate strawberry cupcakes for dessert (that Andrew and I had made).  Andrew LOVES a party!  He's always telling me that someone, i.e. Elmo, Pooh, etc.  is having a birthday and that we should have a party for them. He's a funny boy! :)

Last week, I had a fabulous girls weekend getaway.  Five of us went to The Grand Hotel in Point Clear.  Simply said, I felt so spoiled - no laundry, no cooking/cleaning up the kitchen.  We mostly hung out by the pool all day and even had our lunches brought to us!  I even slept in!  Of course, I missed my boys, but it was a super-relaxing weekend and just what I needed. Thanks to Wilson and May-May and Bubby for watching the boys so I could have a break!  And thanks to my sweet girlfriends for a great trip!

This week we've had a great time playing with friends and staying cool in the water.  We've been to the zoo, the Natural Science Museum, played in the fountains at the Renaissance, and ran thru the sprinklers with our neighbors. It's been a full week but a lot of fun!

We've been working hard on potty-training with Andrew.  We've had 3 consecutive days of big boy underwear with no accidents (including trips to the grocery, friends' houses, and the museum!) so I'm praying we're there!  I'm so proud of him!!  Andrew's been keeping me entertained by all of his talking and singing - which I love!  Most of his favorites are praise and sunday school songs, but it's not surprising to hear him creating his own song about what he's doing at the moment.  He's really interested in painting right now and created quite a masterpiece the other day (in mama's eyes, anyway!).  He's also mastered riding the tricycle and is loving any time we spend in the water.  He's really becoming such a big boy.

Forrest is busy-busy trying to do everything Andrew does.  The crazy thing is that he really keeps up with Andrew pretty well.  He's walking great and is such a climber!  He has no fear and will try anything he sees his big brother doing.  One of my favorite of his new tricks is his rooster noise.  He loves The Big Red Barn and begins "cock-a-doodle-dooing" at the beginning of the book and continues til we reach the page with the rooster.  So cute!  He loves giving hugs and kisses and has even begun making a sweet sound when he kisses us.  He still loves his paci and blankie for naps and bedtime which remind me that he's still my baby boy.

Speaking of baby,  Baby #3 is doing great!   I'm 30 weeks, and we had a sonogram Thursday.  The baby seems to be right on track with the growth of his/her big brothers.  The baby's belly and head measurements put the baby's age about 2 weeks ahead and the approximated weight was 4 pounds, 2 ounces (I think around 3 pounds is avg for 30 weeks).  We're guessing that this one will be another 8 pounder.  I still think we are having another boy, but Wilson and Andrew still say girl!  We're excited to see come August!

I am a little low on new pictures lately.  But, we always take plenty while we are the beach!  Here are a few from our Memorial Beach Trip...

Forrest really took off walking over this trip.  He was on the go all over the beach!

What better place to stay up past your bedtime and eat a fudge pop than at the beach!  Can you tell he loved it?!?

These boys LOVE the water!

We played with Luke Humphreys (and Matt and Katie, too) a couple of days while we were there.  Andrew and Luke are big buds and have such fun together!  Here they are making "fish faces".

This picture was taken right when we first arrived.  The boys were so excited to be there and climbed and played in the sand until we made them go up for dinner!

Hopefully my next post will be a bit more timely! :)

April Beach Trip

When Wilson planned to go to a conference in Chicago during April, I talked my parents into a beach trip with me and the boys. :)   We had a great time, and Andrew is ready to go back!!

I'm so excited that they love the beach like I do. It's a lot of fun to be able to take them to the "cottage", where I grew up going to the beach.  Andrew is a true fan already and Forrest had a great time, too.

The boys had the most fun playing in the sand.  Digging and building sand castles kept them entertained for hours!

Bubbles on the deck with Bubby were lots of fun, too!

May-May made the boys a special snack one afternoon.  Andrew told her he wanted "something" for a snack.  She called us in a little bit later to cut fruit and pound cake to dip in chocolate and freshly whipped cream - yum!!  May-May can always make things special and Andrew knows it!

Playing under the cottage with this sand and water wheel was a big hit.

Relaxing on the swing with Forrest

Building a sand castle

What fun! I agree with Andrew, and in his words... "Can we go to the beach today? I excited!!"