Luke starts School

Luke started school last week.  I was told by my husband that his outfit was not a good choice :)

I thought it was cute: first day of 2 year preschool and a chance to reuse his 2nd birthday shirt.

I sent him the next day in a much more manly shirt.

It's just 2 days a week for 4 hours in the morning.  So far he's done really well.  Only a few tears each day. It's so nice for me to be able to get some things done and spend one on one time with Hadley.  I miss him terribly and get really excited to see 1:00 approach.

He's very proud of his Thomas backpack and needed to show it off..

His first day I promised a surprise when I picked him up, he loved the Nemo fish. I am amazed at the small things that can make a little boy so happy!

He cracked us up last week when he came home and told on himself.  He kept saying things like, "push AJ", "AJ fall down", "no no no no".  We asked  him why he pushed AJ and finally the next day he said, "AJ take tractor".

AJ is one of my best friends little boy so they already knew each other before class.  His teacher said they both get really into their play, push each other and act like brothers.

Luke & AJ

A new "first day of school" tradition was started: choice of dinner which was of course, pizza!

and a special cake!

Happy about the Truth!

Board by Davis Mitchell

Hadley- 2 months old!

The past 2 months have been the fastest 2 months of my life!  They have also been probably the most happy and blessed of my life as well. A healthy and happy 2 year old and 2 month old, what more could we ask for?

Miss Hadley has been the most angelic baby!  She is so laid back and content nearly all the time.  If she cries, I know she is hungry, sleepy, needs a diaper change, or change of scenery (or wants away from big brother crawling all over her!).  I can count on one hand the number of times I couldn't figure out what was wrong.

She is the most fantastic sleeper! Before she was born, I set myself up for the worst and received the best! At 3 weeks old she started waking up once a night and by 6 weeks old has slept 8-10 hours! Certainly the icing on the cake in my opinion!

I can tackle anything 2 babies throw at me during the day if I've gotten a good night's rest!

The transition from 1 child to 2 has been fantastic for our family.  Far easier than what most people warned! We are truly blessed!

Enjoy the pictures of my little beauty at 2 months old...

Loves playing on her play mat.

I love all her hair!

She won't take a pacifier, but she loves to find her fingers.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Luke!

I can't believe my baby boy is 2 years old! What a blessing he has been in our lives! I love watching him change and grow up everyday.  Lately, he has been saying more and more words and putting them together in small sentences. He continues to LOVE anything with wheels on it and points everything out to me when we ride in the car. He is such a great big brother and loves to be around his little sister.

I'm learning there's a reason they call it the "terrible twos"!  He can go from being so sweet to falling on the floor & crying uncontrollably over something so small back to being sweet in a matter of seconds.  Luckily the good moments far outweigh the bad and I know the discipline will reap great rewards as the days pass.

I can't wait to see what the next year holds!

These pictures are from his birthday party with all his little buddies!

The result from me asking Luke to show me his happy face while he was eating.

Yep, Aunt Kelly got him a fish! He named it "Luke" and thankfully he's still alive!

Dragging Papa wherever he wants to go.  Poor Brodey's face, he's so sad that it had been storming and couldn't swim yet.

Daddy and Robert hard at work grilling for everyone.

My super talented friend, Ashleigh, made this cape for

 Luke.  One side is Superman the other is Batman.

Counting down to the big jump...

Jump! So proud of Luke and how much he's learned to "swim" this summer!

Hadley and her first picture with the O'Kelley girls.

Mama O, Me, Mandy, & June.

Hadley's Arrival

Hadley arrived Monday, June 14th at 9:16 am. She was a healthy 8 lbs, 4 oz. and 20" long. She looked a lot like Luke as a newborn except she had a lot more hair that was dark brown.

I was hoping to attempt a VBAC, but at nearly 41 weeks pregnant I ended up with a repeat c-section. Thankfullly, the second c-section was SO much easier than the first. What a great surprise!

Here's Miss Hadley on day 1

Hadley & Nanni

Hadley & Mama O

Leaving the hospital on Wednesday morning. It was so nice to have a healthy baby girl and a healthy recovery for me and go HOME a day early!

Cousin Brooklyn looks so big now!

Luke was so good at the hospital.
He loved playing with his trucks and checking out everything in the room. The best part was our view out of the window of the construction going on at the hospital. He loved watching the trucks and tractors.

He loves his sister and she gets many, many kisses everyday. He is occasionally jealous but gets over the jealousy pretty quickly.

At the Doctor's, 4 days old with daddy.

5 days old.

1 week old.

2 weeks old.

Cousins.

Hadley's Nursery

With a little more than a week until my due date, Hadley's nursery is about as done as it's going to get. Here are some pictures of her room.

I used "Penelope" bedding from Pottery Barn that I fell in love with when I was pregnant with Luke and didn't know if I was having a boy or girl. I love the birdies on it.

Hanging is the outfit I wore home from the hospital and Hadley will also.

Beside that are some shoes my mom wore when she was just 3 months old.

My favorite piece in the nursery is the dollhouse bookcase.

I found one in the Pottery Barn catalog, but didn't want to spend $400 on it.

My talented husband built this bookcase for Hadley!

(and even had one whipped up for Miss Brooklyn a couple weekends later!)

Home Depot Workshop

Our friends Mr. Chad and Caleb told us about the free Kid's workshops that Home Depot offers the first Saturday of every month.  This sounded like a perfect outing for Luke and Andy so they went to check it out this past Saturday.  I came at the very end to get just a few pictures.

They built picket fence planters.

Buddies