More Christmas party pics December 24, 2007

Our family got together at my mom’s house yesterday to celebrate Christmas and it was really a fun day. Its always nice to have so much of our large family get together in one place. We even had Brad, Heidi and little Laken with us this year! I haven’t seen them since Laken was first born, 3 years ago! We also got to meet baby Aiden, Blake and Kristen’s new and very gorgeous little guy. We had so many kids and babies this year, our family is growing so much! We did miss the Livingstons, though as well as Jenny and Robbie with their family and Aunt Cindy. It wasn’t quite the same without you guys, I hope you all have a great Christmas! We had so much good food, including a yummy fried turkey that my dad made. And sweets, did we have sweets!!! And I made some coffee punch, which I had first had at Corine’s baby shower … it was a big hit!

Hayden got so many nice things from everyone, so thank you all so much. He loves all of his new toys and goodies! He had such a great time playing with all his cousins, too.

My handsome little man:

Mandy and Eleni

Playing his harmonica, which we had to take away b/c it got so annoying lol

So happy with their grandchildren!

Hayden playing with one of his favorite gifts, a bag full of dinosaurs

Ethan practicing his new skill of spitting lol

I know, we’re mean, but you know you are laughing out loud, too!

I know I’m biased, but he’s the most gorgeous baby EVER (except for Hayden )

Beautiful baby Ivana, chewing away on that finger

Our newest little guy, Aiden and his daddy … look at those gorgeous blue eyes!

The newest members of our family

The sweetest little girls

Laken is such a doll and she loves babies!

More family pictures here:

Christmas 2007

And some more of our Christmas baby photos here.

Some new layouts September 6, 2007

I’ve been really busy making kits and layouts lately.  Here are a few of the ones I’ve done recently:

All products are from Digital Scrapbook Place
Adore Credits:  Easy 2 Love by Tina Chambers, Vintage Devotion by Nicole Young
My Boy Credits:  Celebrate Life’s Moments by DSP Designers, Swirly Custom Chipboard Alpha by Lauren Bavin
Time with Grammy Credits:  Brushed Away by Rene Bross, Grandparents word art by Tina Chambers
Birthday Girl Credits:  Strawberry Concoction made by me

Time with Ethan August 12, 2007

I’m in Lafayette right now, waiting to see Ethan so I can tell him bye and get back to my own baby boy Chad had to work last night and my mom had to go home, so I came to stay with Mandy and help her, which she doesn’t really need much of right now! She’s such a great little mommy and she’s so in love with Ethan. Both Chad and Mandy are wonderful and they are such a cute little family. My job was to pretty much hold Ethan so Mandy could rest, relax and finally update her friends with some photos of Ethan! We did a little photo shoot with him yesterday, too, but my flash died and he got a bit fussy. Maybe I’ll get a few more before I leave today. Here are a few photos that I took. I’ve also got a bunch of new ones posted in Ethan’s online album: http://picasaweb.google.com/jamie67/Ethan

Ok, wanna smile now? August 8, 2007

Isn’t he beautiful? Mandy, Chad and Ethan were sent home yesterday afternoon and as far as I know, everyone is still doing great. My mom will be staying with them until this weekend to help them out and when I talked to her this morning, she was holding a wide-awake Ethan while his mommy and daddy got some much needed rest! I did add a few new pics to his album, but not many. I’m hoping to get back to Lafayette to see them sometime soon, in a few days or so, and promise to get lots of new pics then!

My cousin Tracie has also had her baby, Ivana Jean was born by c-section at about midnight last night (after a very long labor for Tracie, poor thing!). Ivana’s about the same exact size as Ethan, too! She’s 6lbs 9oz and 18.5 inches long. Everyone is doing great in their family as well. Aunt Sandra has promised some photos soon!

Ethan

Ethan Daniel is here! August 6, 2007

Although Mandy was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday, Ethan had other plans. Early Sunday morning Mandy started having some irregular but painful contractions. Throughout the day they got a bit closer together and by the late afternoon, she was in a bit of pain. They went to the hospital to get checked out and she was about 3cm so they had her walk around for an hour to see if she’d progress. She was at 4cm so they admitted her, not long after her water broke and things started to move along. When we got there, she was about 6cm and in a LOT of pain, waiting for her epidural. The epidural went well (thank God, no problems!) and she felt better and up to having visitors after that. After just a couple of short hours, it was time to deliver Ethan. The delivery only lasted about 30 minutes and Ethan arrived at 10:49pm. He’s 6lbs 9oz, 19 1/2 inches long and has a bit of darkish brown hair. He looks like both Mandy and Chad at different times and in different photos. Today he was doing great, he’s been nursing well and sleeping well. He was alert for a short time and I got some cute photos of his eyes open. There will be tons more photos as the days go on, I’m sure! But here are a few for now:

Ethan

Tuesday is the day! August 3, 2007

Mandy will go in very early on Tuesday morning to be induced which means Ethan should arrive sometime by that afternoon if everything goes well. I haven’t talked to my mom yet, but I assume she’ll swing by sometime Monday evening to pick us up and go to Lafayette. I’ll be hanging out with Hayden at Kelly’s during the day and hopefully can break away to visit Mandy a few times. I’m so excited, I can’t wait to meet my nephew!!!!

Ethan’s Nursery July 31, 2007

Still waiting for Ethan! Hayden and I took a trip to spend the day in Lafayette with Mandy, Kelly and Eleni. We checked out Ethan’s nursery, which is completely stocked and ready for his arrival! I took some pictures of all the details, Mandy did such a great job on everything. Hayden had fun messing everything up, poor Ethan will have most of his stuff tested and played with before he arrives! lol We then went over to Kelly’s where Eleni was very anxiously awaiting Hayden’s visit. We had lunch at Johnny Carino’s (YUM) then went shopping at Kohl’s and Target. Poor Hayden was so exhausted and slept most of the way home and was not happy to be woken up once we got there.

Tomorrow Mandy has a regular doctor visit, but she and Chad will talk about and decide if they want to go ahead with an induction, which could happen on Thursday if she decides to go for it! I’m going to be so anxious to find out what they decide, we may be holding little Ethan by Thursday night!!

Ethan’s Nursery