christmas.

Christmas was great.

We were having such a great time, just our little family and afterward we realized we took very few pictures.

But, here is what we got...

the favorite gift.

THE PERFECT DAY!

Merry Christmas

Who's EXCITED for Christmas?...

PROVE IT!

Excuse all the slobber, story of our life lately.

2009 Edition- Naughty or Nice

I just couldn't choose!

2008 Edition here

A Little Naughty But Mostly Nice...

Ava has figured out who Santa is this year...apart from the times she confuses him for Jesus.

She was pretty excited to meet the jolly old man.

Dex was happy to just be along for the ride.

Our Newest Addition!

He's almost a week old...

Where has the time gone!

Dexter Joshua surprised us by popping by to say hello on Thanksgiving Day.

He reminded us that we have so much to be thankful for.

He is PERFECT and we are TOTALLY in love!

A quick run down of the events...for those who wanted to know.

Wednesday night my water broke, not a gush just some trickling.

We went to the hospital around 1:30 a.m. Thanksgiving day.

They had us walk around the labor and delivery unit from 2:30 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. to see if contractions would start on there own...BRUTAL! I'm so not a night person.

Then we were able to "sleep" until 6:30 a.m. when they started me on pitocin.

I didn't have to feel very many bad contractions before they were offering me an epidural.

After receiving the epidural I progressed very quickly.

After 45 minutes of pushing, Dexter arrived posterior...and perfect.

He arrived at 1:05 p.m.

Weighing in at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 inches long...and perfect.

Ava met her baby brother later that night, but she was more interested in showing off for the nursing staff than meeting Dexter. She has been very sweet with him, especially when nobody is looking.

Josh did the honors of Dexter's first bath at home. He is a pro. Parenting comes naturally to him, at least it does for one of us.

We are enjoying every minute of our time with our new little family member. We are already having a hard time remembering what life ever felt like without him.

We love him so much and...he's perfect.

Trick or Treat

She ruled the neighborhood last night...and to think it was her first time out on the streets trick or treating. You never would have guessed. While we were waiting for our friends to come over and join us, she decided to take herself to a few houses. Then, when our friends showed up, Ava decided to show them the ropes. She was a pro the rest of the night and in complete heaven, out with the big kids. She had quite the basket full by the end of the night and even treated herself to an Almond Joy...wrapper and all!

It was everything I was hoping it would be and more. She has become quite independent which is so fun to watch, but also hurts my heart a little more than I would like to admit. She has changed so much in the past year and now I know what they mean when they say, they grow up right before your eyes. After Ava went to bed last night, Josh and I looked at pictures from last Halloween, comparing them to this year and we hardly recognized our little girl, she has grown up so much! I guess this is part of being a parent, and I probably ought to get used to it. Dangit.