Hailey Lauren is here!

Our little baby girl was born this morning, 22 May 09 at 12:33AM.  She weighed in at 8lbs 14 oz, and is 22 inches.  Hailey and mom are doing well, they are currently getting their rest!  Later today (when Wes wakes up) we will take him to meet his sister...we are excited to see his reaction.  Here are some photos!

Our little skirmish

So the other day I was mowing the lawn when Becca commented that she didn't like the pattern I was making.  For some reason she wouldn't let it go, and we got in a big fight.  It was so bad that I walked away, and told her "I don't care if you are pregnant or not, if you want the lawn mowed, you can do it yourself".  So she did...

Just kidding...but I'm sure that is how it looked to the neighbors.  Here is Bec in her 40th week of pregnancy (on her due date) trying to expedite our new arrival through exercise.  Unfortunately it didn't work, as here it is the next day, and still no baby!

Random photos

Looking at the cows

Pumping water

Wes walking the dog...she is on leash, and stays right with him.  He feels like a big boy, pushing his own car.  

What a happy family!

Too cool with the shades on. 

Wes wanted to wear his rain boots the other day without pants...he should be a fashion model!

He is now interested in what toilets are for...

Here he is reading with cousin Michael

Enjoying another good book with Gram.

Here is Wes and Mommy on Mother's Day

Wes and "Ickey"

Wes is getting ready to be a big brother.  He understands where the baby is, and calls her "Ickey".  Here is some video proof...

A little family basketball

Here is a little montage of Wes shooting hoops.

38 weeks! Never thought I'd make it this far!

The Lawn Boys

Aren't my yard men such lookers??

I could stare at them all day!

Wes at the pool

We shot this video during the first week of April 09 during our trip to Portugal.  Every day we went to the pool, and during this trip Wes started jumping into the pool on his own, as well as kicking and paddling with his arms.  Another good one...enjoy!

Wes' 1st Birthday Cake--only 10 months belated!

We apologize for sitting on this video for so long...this is Wes' first birthday cake experience.  It was shot at his first birthday party in Jun 08 and is sure to be a classic.  The video is almost 10 minutes long, but there really aren't any sections that can be edited...you really need to relive the entire cake eating experience.  The better quality version would not upload, so this one is a bit grainy, but you still get the idea...  Enjoy!  

Wes torturing our dog...

Here is a good one of Wes scaring Morgan, our dog with his plastic shopping cart...

Finally...home videos!

So I finally took the time to figure out how to use our JVC camcorder on a Mac.  It took some research and software downloads, but it finally works.  After sorting 2 years of home videos and taking some online iMovie tutorials, I'm ready to start video editing.  There is a lot of old footage that needs to be edited and posted, so I'll work on it as I can.  For starters, here is a video of Wes playing basketball; with a little sound editing!  Enjoy. 

John

Around Town

Wes loves walking the dog and visiting the cows and saying hello to the fish!!  

He likes to stop and smell the flowers and when he's on foot, a walk can take  a long time!  Our German neighbors like to give him chocolate, which I don't mind at all!!

He's trying to kiss the cows...great!  Totally cracks up and keeps talking about the middle calf (they are being weaned) who jumps (bucks around when scared).

Block Party on Base

April is the Month of the Military Child!  Yesterday the base sponsored a Block Party for the kiddos and since we live in Germany and never have anything to do, we thought we'd check it out!  Wes loved the bouncy castle once he was able to stand up in it!  He had to be lured out by a balloon promise!  

Playing at the sand table and planting a sunflower with Ms. Ellen, his teacher from Monday's playgroup!  He loved the dirt and would get a scoop from one tub and move on to the next!
He is totally cracking up in this pic because there were kiddos doing a tumbling demonstration in front of us to the loud music!

36 Weeks

The pics of Wes above demonstrate a few of his favorite pastimes...climbing up and "working" on the computer, and playing basketball!  

Last Saturday, I made it to 36 weeks!  After spending 3 nights in the hospital the previous week, my early labor was stopped and I've just been taking it easy.  Hailey weighed about 6lbs last Thursday, which is great.  Chasing around a toddler while being preggers is certainly a good way to not gain a lot of weight.  At this point with Wes, who was delivered at 36 weeks, I weighed 178...right now I'm at 160...I don't mind gaining weight at all when I'm pregnant, but I'll take it!!  I find that I'm drinking a lot more water, and I think that helps...

Wes and Dad go to Belgium

On Saturday, April 11, John and Wes headed to Belgium to see the grottos and wildlife park!!  I was excited for them to spend this time together and see the cool animals and caves.  I was excited for me, because they were gone from about 0700 until 2000 (8pm)...I was going to scrapbook, relax, watch Australia and Vicky Christina Barcelona.

Well, I helped them get out the door and never could go back to sleep.  I had breakfast, cleaned out the hall cabinet, and started to watch a movie, when I realized I was having contractions.  Since I was only 35 weeks at the time and had gone into early labor with Wes, I ended up going into the hospital and they said I was dilated to almost 2 and still having contractions.  I ended up staying for 3 nights, but all is well now!!

John and Wes had a wonderful time in Belgium.    Some of our friends ended up being on the trip, which was great!!  I know some of you (DEB) could care less about the animal pics, but We s loves to get on the computer and look at our blog!  John and Wes ended up spending a lot of time together and came to visit me everyday at the hospital.  It was a good trial run for Hailey's arrival!  I was afraid he would cry when it was time to leave me, but he stayed long enough until he was ready to go and just said "bye bye mommy".   What a relief!  

Playgroup Easter Egg Hunt

So cute to see these toddlers searching for eggs!  Wes' M.O. was to find an egg, open it, eat the contents, go down the slide and move on to another egg!  As you can see, we've had some beautiful weather over here!