Sunday, February 28, 2010

I Was Born Ready!!!

Happy 11 month birthday to Dylan. I can't believe he's almost a year old! Time really does fly! Dylan is so proud of all of his new skills! He loves standing on his own, feeding himself and crawling/walking (with the walker) all over the place!






Feeding himself makes for some messy evenings, but he loves it and is SO cute!!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Wake up Maggie I think I got something to say to you!!!!

Welcome Maggie!!!!


Margaret Lynn Morris (Maggie)
born February 13th, 2010
9:59 a.m.
6 pounds 11 ounces, 18 1/2 inches long


So, Dylan decided to come down with a cough on Thursday. He was up a bunch in the night coughing and definitely has come down with a cold, so surgery has been postponed. Luckily, we've all come up with pretty good distractions to take our minds off of things...Aunt Nicki jetted to Carnival in Rio, those of us here in KC have the wonderful joy of playing with the newest addition to the family!!! Andrea said Maggie must be destined to adore me just like big sister Ella because she's already listening to me...I called Andrea on Friday morning and was pretty upset about Dylan's cough. I told her she might as well have the baby now, since Dylan's surgery was going to be cancelled. Maggie obliged and came on Saturday!!

Andrea had been having some signs for the last week or so that Maggie might be coming soon. In fact, last weekend she had us all convinced that she was definitely on her way. Friday, Andrea thought she might be progressing, but didn't tell any of us b/c she was tired of being the boy who cried wolf. She went to bed Friday night and woke up at 2 a.m. with her water breaking. She did some last minute straightening of the house (gotta love "nesting") and she and Morris headed to the hospital (my dad stayed with Ella). She called me from the car at about 2:45 and I told her to call me once she got settled into the hospital. She called me back around 3:15 and we decided that there was no way I could miss this labor! So, I got out of bed, showered and headed to the hospital (a big thanks to my mom for staying with Dylan). Andrea decided to get an epidural (which was given by a fellow Hawkeye...mine was a Hawkeye too, but a different one. apparently there are a bunch of them here!).

The combination of the epidural, Andrea being full term and this being the second kiddo made the whole experience quite different. We all hung out, watched movies and half slept while Andrea labored. She stalled a bit, so they decided to give her some pitocin. Apparently, all Maggie needed was the threat of pitocin because within 45 minutes of the drugs (really before hardly any had gotten in her system), Andrea started progressing super fast! The doctor came in (for the first time) and checked her out...Andrea mentioned that she thought she was starting to feel the urge to push and the doctor replied that Andrea could sneeze and the baby might come out. So, they got everything ready, all of the nurses and everybody came to the room, Andrea pushed a few times and Maggie was born!!

Andrea let me stay in the room for the delivery and I can honestly say it was one of the most miraculous, awe-inspiring things I have ever witnessed. Andrea was amazing and the whole process brought tears to my eyes!!

Little Maggie (or Maggie Moo) is absolutely adorable. She is doing a great job eating and should get to go home tomorrow. Ella has been up a few times to visit and so far loves her baby sister...although I'm not sure she realizes she's coming home to stay. We're so excited and proud to welcome Maggie into our lives and Dylan can't wait to meet her tomorrow!!

Now, for some more fun pics and another video of Dylan!!

Morris doing his impression of what a contraction feels like pre-epidural




Don't we look happy to be in labor...Andrea's blood pressure did drop a bit with the epidural, so she was a bit nauseous and quite hot. However, she said it was definitely well worth it!!


Proud Daddy with his new baby girl!!!


Maggie showing us that her lungs work quite well! Notice how awesome Andrea manages to look even after 8 hours of labor!!



So excited to have another little one around!!!


Some much deserved mommy and me time!!


Uncle Billy and Maggie (or as he likes to call her to drive Andrea crazy, Maggie Simpson)


Papa and Maggie (or as he likes to call her, Peanut M&M b/c of her initials)


First meeting with Big Sister Ella :) (note Ella's shirt that Aunt Nicki and I got her for the big day!)

What an adorable family!!!


Maggie (w/some help from Aunt Bobbie) got Ella a giant caterpillar as a present. It has the alphabet on it and is taller than me. Ella loves it!!


Proud Namma with her newest grandkid!!

I couldn't have a whole post without a picture of Dylan. Here he is eating/wearing cottage cheese this week. We've really started expanding the foods he is eating and he usually just eats whatever we are eating. He loves any form of bread, cottage cheese and macaroni and cheese (he's just like his big cousin Ella).


So remember how with the crawling video, I mentioned that I didn't think it'd be long before he was walking...here's a video from earlier tonight with him making his way across the room with his walker! He's so cute!!! Special thanks to Beth and Dennis for giving us the walker. He's loved playing with the front of it and now is super excited to be walking with it. He gets such a proud look on his face!!!





Wednesday, February 10, 2010

To Crawl or Not to Crawl

So Dylan has been near crawling for quite some time (he's a bit late in the game, I think mostly b/c he used to avoid being on his stomach b/c of the bump). For the past few weeks, he's been scooting, rolling and lunging to get to where he wanted to go. I've been contemplating when to decide that he's "officially crawling". The other morning at daycare they asked me if he had crawled at home because they said they considered what he was doing crawling...well two days later he definitely has the hang of it and nobody could argue that it's definitely crawling! I'm super excited! He also LOVES pulling himself up and cruising around (with some assistance still), so I don't think walking is far off. He's still perfectly healthy, so I'm thinking third time will be a charm with surgery on Monday. Feel free to start sending those thoughts and prayers our way now!!

And now a video showing off 2 of Dylan's skills...clapping and crawling!!



Saturday, February 6, 2010

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas...

Well, I guess as the old saying goes, better late than never, right?  Here's the long awaited and much anticipated Christmas time blog and pics.  And besides, we have another foot of snow on the ground, so technically it does still look like Christmas!! 

But first an update...

Today is a very special day in our lives!!  Our little Miss Ella is 2 today!!  We had a great day hanging out with her.  We went to the pool this morning, had "roni and cheese" for lunch, cupcakes and presents this afternoon.  Ella and I have always had a very close relationship and she continues to amaze me everyday!  She is one of the cutest, smartest most fun little girls I've ever met in my entire life.  Happy birthday, Ella!!!  I can't wait to see what this next year brings :) 


For those of you keeping track Dylan was supposed to have his surgery on Monday (Feb. 8th).  It has been postponed to Feb. 15 because the surgeon couldn't do it this Monday.  Of course, Dylan is perfectly healthy right now, so I'm really hoping he will avoid catching a cold this next week and we can get this surgery out of the way! 

We're also anxiously awaiting the arrival of new baby Morris.  Andrea isn't technically due until the end of February, but Ella was 5 weeks early, so we're all prepared for her arrival any day.  I can't wait to meet the new baby and Dylan is excited not to be the littlest one anymore! 

I have a TON of Buenos Aires and Ella's birthday pictures and stories to post and will try to get them up soon!!

Dylan is getting so big and fun.  He's not officially crawling but he can scoot on his butt, roll and pretty much get wherever he wants to go.  He loves pulling himself up and standing and I'm guessing will be walking within a few months. 

So without further ado, here's Christmas!!!

First up, here are some pics for the Christmas cards that we took a few weeks before Christmas.  Ella and Dylan are SO cute together. 



  
  





The week of Christmas, we went over to Eric and Polly's house (Kris' brother and sister-in-law) and hung out with the Thomas family.  Dylan LOVED getting to play with Owen and meeting Linda and Greg T. 





We celebrated my birthday the week before Christmas.  My dad, Nicki and I made a 4 layer cake which was quite delicious.  Everybody came over to my house and we played a little rock band and Wii fit.  Thanks to everybody for making my 30th special...it was a hard day for me, but nice to be surrounded by the friends and family I love.  A special thanks to JoAnne and Jeremy for driving all the way down from DSM.  It was great seeing all 2 1/2 off you!!!  (yes, for those of you curious, JoAnne is pregnant and Dylan can't wait to meet his newest playmate this summer!!)

 
Jamie gave me a chia pet for my b-day which was awesome!!  Here's Jo and I planting the seeds.

We had a great Christmas with lots of presents and fun.  Obviously, it was pretty hard because I missed Zach so much, but it was nice to be around family.  Christmas Eve we opened presents at my parents' house.  Dylan got lots of new toys, but was mostly interested in the boxes and tissue paper :)  (a special thanks to Kris and Matt for his adorable Christmas Eve sweater!) 


Opening presents with Mommy!


So cute with Papa!


I love Uncle Billy!!


Ella with Namma in her new Dora Christmas pajamas!


Ella showing her new doll off to Dylan!


Dylan says, I'm so cute!!


Big smiles with Aunt Nicki!!


Mommy and me!!


We had a TON of snow on Christmas Eve, enough to pretty much shut down the city.  Billy very sweetly drove Nicki, Dylan and I home so I didn't have to drive in it!  Luckily, Grandma Toni and Grandpa Karl weren't coming until Christmas morning, so their flight still made it!

Christmas morning, we opened presents with Toni and Karl.  Dylan got a bunch of other very cool presents and was very excited. 



Dylan says, I can get used to this opening presents every day stuff!!


Dylan loves his animal pop up toy from Uncle Dennis and Aunt Beth!  He's so good at closing all of the animals after we open them!


Opening the calendar we made with Grandpa Karl!

Later on Christmas Day, we went back to Craig Street to have a family dinner.  My dad made a great Turkey with all the trimmings and we had an excellent time!! 





Toni, Nicki and Karl got Ella a play kitchen for Christmas!  It's one of her favorite toys!!


The box the kitchen came in was also a big hit!!


I got Dylan some balls to play with and he absolutely loves them!!


Beth made this adorable bib with Dylan when she took care of him one day.  The antlers are his handprints!!

The next day, we enjoyed playing with the toys and even made it out in the snow some.  Dylan wasn't quite sure what to make of the snow and seemed a bit concerned on why we were outside when it was so cold!


Riding on his new lion!


Playing with Grandma!

Getting ready to go outside with Papa!
Dylan and a snowman just his size!!



A bittersweet part of Christmas time was having to say goodbye to Aunt Nicki who was leaving for her adventure in Buenos Aires.  We had a great time hanging out with her for a couple of weeks before she left!  We miss her a ton :)   

Dylan making a masterpiece for Nicki, Piper and Rich's apartment in Buenos Aires!

One of the most exciting presents I got was a jogging stroller.  Unfortunately, it has been way too cold and snowy to break it in yet, but Aunt Nicki and I are very excited for it!!

We had a little going away party at the Morris house before Aunt Nicki left.  Morris made his famous chili and we had a nice time :)


Ella and Nicki saying Yabba Dabba Dooo!!

Dylan and I went with Nicki to the airport.  Nicki and I stayed up late packing and making chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for the trip.  The cookies turned out to be key...we went to the check in with all of Nicki's luggage.  She brought her fancy hiking back pack and asked for a bag to wrap it in for the flight.  While the agent was getting the bag, we put Nicki's big suitcase on the scale...it weighed over 60 pounds (which the limit is 50 and you have to pay a ton if you're over).  The agent came back and we quickly took the suitcase off the scale hoping she hadn't seen it.  We offered the agent a cookie (which she took) and she checked Nicki's bag without weighing it.  So, even though we were a bit tired, staying up late making the cookies was definitely worth it!!

Aunt Nicki and Dylan decided to dress alike for the goodbye!

We celebrated New Year's Eve over at the Morris household.  We had a nice time and most of us even made it up until midnight!!



We had a great time cheering the Hawks on to victory in the Orange Bowl!!  Dylan and Ella looked so cute all decked out in their Iowa gear :)









Grandpa's sidekick!

Sooooo cute!