little bears

All bundled up and ready for our Polar Bear Light Tour. We tried not to notice that it was over 50 degrees and we were all sweating!!

We had a sleepy little bear before we even got started.

rockin' around the christmas tree

This was one of our favorite displays on our tour. Pause the music on the blog if you really want to be impressed.....

we wish you a merry christmas...

Instead of trying to capture our usual Christmas Eve everyone-is-dressed-up-&-looking-festive picture, we decided to go with our reality this year. The best part of this lazy Christmas morning picture-we are all home! Sydney was able to come home on Christmas Eve much to everyone's delight. Unfortunately, that night during Mass, Davis started running fever. We are all on the road to recovery now & just laying low and being glad for lazy Christmas days.

Sydney sporting some of her fab new hair accessories

Megs chillin' in her new chair

Davis showing off his new dinosaur jammies

What a "deer!"

how the grinch tried to steal christmas

We had plans for a nice, quiet Christmas & days leading up to it. So much for plans! Sydney was diagnosed with RSV on Wednesday and we have been in the hospital ever since.

http://ehow.com/facts_4970116_rsv-symptoms-infants.html

Luckily, little miss seems to have gotten a light version of it and has mainly had a fever, cough, congestion & ear infection. She has managed to stay off oxygen & has not had to have an IV.

Our Christmas wish has happened though-the docs have declared her well enough to go home today so she will not have to spend her first Christmas in the hospital!

Big sister Megs left sweet messages for her baby sister

sisters

a little touch of home...

Our Indiana family so thoughtfully made us these snowflakes to share themselves & a little bit of a Midwest Christmas with us.

We love them...and the snowflakes too!

o christmas tree

Once upon a time when we lived in Michigan, we had the total Christmas Tree Experience. We drove 30 minutes to a tree farm where it was usually about 0 degrees and covered with snow. We bundled up and took a freezing wagon ride out to rows & rows of trees where we would then spend at least an hour finding the perfect tree. Steve would then pull out a saw and cut the perfect tree down. We would drag it for what seemed like a mile to find the wagon and take a freezing return trip. Once the tree was purchased, we would settle in for some hot cider & donuts to warm us up.

Now, we have the California Tree Experience. Here's how that goes:

Drive 10 minutes to the local Home Depot

Walk 30 seconds to the fenced in tree area, where the temperature is at least 55 degrees

Spend 2 minutes finding the perfect tree which is already cut & ready for binding

(which you may even be able to do blindfolded!)

Push cart with tree on it the 30 seconds back to the car. Drive home & have an icy cola to cool off from all the hard work

The one similarity: smiles on the kids' faces at the end of the day!

it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

jump for joy

3 weeks in and so much to report!

Sydney is already up to over 10 lbs! I actually already packed all of her newborn clothes away and we moved from newborn size diapers to size 1.

Our sweet little girl isn't going to stay little for long!

She had her first visit with Santa this weekend & seemed to really like him..or at least slept right through him.

And the biggest news of all-she has been asked to play the part of baby Jesus at the Christmas Eve Mass!

What a debut :)

ups & downs

Sweet Snuggly Sydney

Have I mentioned how I feel about my car seat???

'Twas the night before Christmas

Let the Christmas season begin!

(why do I already feel so far behind???)

weekend fun

From Tangled to Trains, we had a lot of fun over the weekend with Grams & Gramps!

happy thanksgiving!

So much to be thankful for....

All bundled up for a Thanksgiving Day walk

I am really good at this big brother thing...

cheeky

I am all cheeks..and just couldn't be any sweeter!

sweet syd's first week

Wow o wow...how quickly this first week has gone! In one short week Sydney has cried her first cry, learned how to be a good eater, met her brother & sister, taken over a large portion of our house, lost her umbilical stump, brought on so many kind acts from our friends & family and made our lives better forever. What a wonderful week!

bath time

So today I decided to give Sydney a sponge bath.

Here is little miss, ready to get clean, although not very happy about it...

...and this is my face as my mom went to take our picture and Sydney got her revenge-she pooped through the towel right onto my foot! Notice the little grin on her face :)

just hangin' around

Syd's first week home has been full of all kinds of silly stuff...

ready to roll

Today we packed up and took our new little Cali girl home!

All snuggled up with Daddy

Davis already taught her to wink!


So excited about our newest little miracle!

hangin' at the hospital

Strike a pose, little lady!

I've got this all under control ;)

sydney rae

Our new baby girl arrived today..rather quickly and almost perfectly punctually :)

Sydney weighed a whopping 8 lbs 12 oz & is 20 inches long.

We are all quite smitten with her!

Mom & baby are doing well and glad to finally get to see one another face to face!