Oh Boy Oh Boy

Elijah Ryan, let me tell you a story...

Once upon a time there was a little boy who stole his auntie's heart before she ever met him. His name was Elijah Ryan. Its funny how you can steal my heart and I haven't even met you yet. It won't be long though, 1 week and 1 day. That is all the time we have to wait until we get to meet you. A little over a year ago we were right here in the same place. Awaiting the arrival of your big sister. We were all nervous and every time the phone rang our hearts jumped, same thing is happening now. If I have a missed call from your mommy or from DeDe I nearly freak out. That is how eager I am!

So I've been a slacker. I know horrible horrible me. We've been busy with your big sister and moving your mommy and daddy into their new home, which is now big enough for all of you! Let me tell you about how we found out you were a little boy. We threw a small party at your great Aunt Sherri's house. You're mommy and daddy came in and mommy had to run and hide so no one would ask questions because papa was late. So they finally got there and they pulled a onesie out of the bag and it said little brother! Then we all watched the video and got to see you.

 I also threw a pretty great party for you and your mommy. It was a tea party. I know I know, it was not boyish at all. But this party was more for your mommy. You got tons of presents though. Cute... er... I mean handsome stuff! You're going to be seriously stylin' in your new clothes. 

You haven't been as active as I had hoped. You don't move as much. I did get to feel you when you had the hiccups. Seriously weird and amazing at the same time. You're a little man. A real, little man. I realized with your sister just how fast you will grow up. I'm going to cherish every moment. I'm not going to rush you to do anything. I can't wait to see you and your tiny little fingers and toes and hold you while you will still let me. 

You're sister doesn't know whats going on right now. But she'll learn. She is very good at sharing so you've got that going for you kiddo. She is going to be a great big sister. We've been teaching her how to be soft. (That is hard to teach) You should be just fine though. She already loves all the others babies she is around. Hey, you have a cousin that is on her way soon! Kayla and Jeremy are having a little girl. Also a friend of your mommy's adopted a beautiful little girl. You're going to have some best friends when you get older. Friends you get to grow up with. Me and your mom had a pretty rad group of friends too when we were growing up. I mean seriously you can watch our youtube channel when you get older and see for yourself. But what was special is that we were able to grow up with ours and they became our brothers. (Mostly we just had boys). You're going to have a lot of sisters, but trust me they will take care of you.

My dearest boy, I can't wait until next Friday, but until then, (given you stay right where you are) I will talk to you after I get to see your face.

Sweet Crazy Isabella,

I say crazy in the most loving way. But you sure are a character. You make the craziest faces! The crack me up! You're getting so big and you can talk, although you refuse to say my name. Hello, by the way what is up with that?! You and I have had long talks about this but still, its just mom. Everything is Mom. You see my cell phone. MOM. You see food. MOM. You see a toy. MOM. haha not that I'm rushing you, because right now i'm enjoying every little moment. I can't believe it has been over one year since we all sat in that waiting room, and since I cried when I saw that first picture of you. You have a personality so your own.

So let me tell you what you've been up to. You moved into a new house. Its just right down the road but you don't live with DeDe and PaPa anymore. You get to have your own bedroom now! You sleep in your own bed all through the night, and you will even sit in your own chair during the meetings... well for a bit anyways. You eat big girl food, and have moved into a big girl car seat. You spend the night with your family and have even been to a girls night slumber party. You ate your first cupcake. You didn't really like the cake but you loved the icing. Maybe you're more of a pie and ice cream gal like myself. You had to have a shower afterwards though because you were a bit messy. You hate wearing shoes, and love string cheese. Seriously some days its all you will eat. You loved my grilled cheese. Like you went bonkers and tried to eat my entire sandwich. You went on your first hay ride and loved it. You only sneezed once. You're uncle David does one every year. 

I don't know if you understand what is going on or understand that your little brother is going to be here soon, but I do know that you are going to be a great big sister. I don't know how to deal with little brothers though, that is uncharted territory for me. Looks like you'll have to talk to your daddy about that one. 

Love you baby girl!

Enjoy catching up on the pictures.

Love,
Auntie Lollie (you will say it one day!) 

What will you be.....

My anticipation is growing... the day is getting near.... One week from today we get to know you a little bit better.

Our whole family is waiting, (not so patiently) to find out about our newest member. The rest of the family is just so sure that you're a little boy. I still think you might be a girl. That could be just because I want your big sister to have a little sister, because, and you can ask your mommmy, little sisters are pretty awesome. (Don't tell auntie Nanners I said that!) Your Mommy even told me that when I find myself a husband that i've already got a flower girl and ring bearer. It took me a minute to realize what she said, she is that sure!

If you are a little girl, 

You will be able to enjoy a great gift. The gift of sisters. You will so not like them at times! They will annoy you, they will embarrass you, but they will always be there for you. I got to talk to your mommy the other day and we talked like we were teens again, thats the kind of thing that never goes away with sisters. 

If you are a little boy,

You will be the most spoiled boy ever. You better believe you will be golfing before you can walk and have a better throwing arm than the rest of the family. Finally a little boy! You will also have the responsibility to watch your sister as your two grow up. She'll protect you, and you'll protect you. I don't have any fleshly brothers but I have more honorary brothers than a girl needs. They protect me. 

Either way little peanut, we will love you more than you'll probably ever know. So lets count down the days! 7 days til I can start shopping for you and really planning for you!

My dearest Isabella,

Me oh my and pumpkin pie how you grow so fast! 

So yea I totally taught you how to say aye yi yi. Best trick ever. Next is ay dios mios! Who cares if you can say my name or not. haha! You're so close to standing up on your own. I think you're afraid to let go. Which is so nice to see actually because you've been so independent so far.

I hope you understand what is going on with the new baby going on. Your mommy and daddy are trying to get ready for it. You're going to love the new little one.

Siblings are built in best friends. 

I will talk to you in a few days. July 31st. That's the big day! Love you lots.

Love,

Aunite Lollie

sweet sweet babies...

Hello my lovelies!

My my how we've grown! Sweet little Ellie belly you are almost 8 months old. Its hard to think that you have been in my life almost as long as you were in your mommy's tummy. 

You're so big. So strong. So active.

YOU NEVER SIT STILL. ever.

We've made it through you're very first convention. :) It was 3 long days and I'm not sure that Mom or Dad got much out of it at all, but at least we were all there.

OH my OH my. I forgot to mention you've got 2 teeth now! The second one is coming in right now but the first is already in.

I love how much you move and try to talk. All the time you try to talk. You can say mom, dada, gaga, baba. haha I know those are real words, well the last two, but they still count. 

You got to go swimming for the first time. You loved it. We all played and you got to float! However you did get a little cold and we could only stay in the pool for a few mins because some kid decided to throw up and we all had to rush out of the pool. GROSS. Trust me the next time we won't rush you. And you might even get your own float. :)

Sweet little Peanut,

I am so excited to meet you. To feel you move. To be your proud Auntie Lollie. To know who you are and to see your face. We stay pretty busy these days with your older sister but we all still love you so much. I try hard  not to shop for you yet since we don't know if you are Abby or Eli yet. But we will know so soon!

July 31st! Thats the day I will know more about you. I'll know who you are. Your mommy is starting to show more and more and it gets more exciting every day. You have such a wonderful family to meet. 

Boy or Girl? Eli or Abby? Blue or Pink? Those are the questions!

You had you're first 3 day convention. Granted you were a piece of cake through it. Such an easy baby. haha.

I love you and can't wait to meet you.

I'm one proud Auntie. 

Til next time.

You may not know it yet...

My darling Isabella, 

You may not know this yet, but you will. Having a sibling is one of the greatest things you can have. You're going to be a big sister. That comes with a lot of responsibility, but also with A LOT of fun. We don't know if you'll have a little brother or a little sister, I'm hoping for a little sister, just because I like my sisters so much. But I've heard little boys are great too! 

Having a sibling means always having someone to play with, someone to protect you, someone to make fun of you and for you to make fun of. Someone to laugh with and someone to team up against mom and dad with. They will be your built in best friend. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience. They will always love you and take care of you and drive you crazy. But that's the beauty of having a sibling!

So little girl you're a darling 6 months old. You crawl. Really Craaaawwwl. We started building my house (yes - I built you and you're sibling a bedroom so you can come stay with me when you get older) and all weekend you were in such a great mood. That's when you really started to crawl. You even tried to crawl after me when I was leaving. 

I stopped by to see your friend Bo yesterday. He cried when I held him. Made me miss you an awful lot. You just laugh and smile when I hold you. Well you don't let me hold you very much. You want to walk and crawl and play. You're so active.


Good things are coming...

 

Dear New Baby,

I want you to know just how loved you are. We have such a large family and have been so excited to share all of our love with your big sister Isabella. But we're so excited to be able to share that with you. You're expected arrival date is December 20th and right now you're just 9 weeks old. You're growing your little fingers and toes and mommy and DeDe just heard your heartbeat. I hope I get to go with your mom this time around and see you on the ultrasound. You're coming into a great life little peanut. :) and you've got yourself a pretty great mom dad and older sister. 

Goodmorning Elijah or Abigail. 

Love, 

You're auntie Lollie. 

Fingers and toes and smiles that wrinkle you're nose

Go ahead you can give me the worst Auntie award. 

Just kidding. You better not! I've been busy playing with you. Too busy to actually write to you. Lame excuse I know. I had all the time in the world before, but since you've actually been here, its hard to find that time. But its times like this morning during my drive to the office I found myself thinking about your giggle. Your smile and it made me smile. I knew I needed to write to you again. 

You're almost 6 months old now. Time flys! 

Lets see what are you accomplishments so far?

- Well, you can sit up for a good 30 seconds with out falling over.

- you can walk when we hold your hands. 

- you can practically talk to me. You make the cutest sounds and you try so hard to talk.

- you roll over. ALL THE TIME. I think you realize that you can get things if you scoot your boot and roll yourself over to it.

You're mommy took you outside yesterday and let you play in the grass for the first time. She said you loved it! You also are eating more solid foods now. You get to have rice cereal and sweet potatoes! You did not like the squash your parents gave you. ( I'm not a fan of it either. So I'll teach you how to avoid it. Except spaghetti squash. That's yummy) You make yum sounds when you eat too! You really enjoy your meals. :) 

You're little knees are getting rough. You're losing the baby skin that is so soft since you are trying to crawl. You're hair is also starting to curl!! Can you guess i'm excited! You will have at least one thing that will be like mine. 

The older the get the more you look like your mom. You were all your Daddy when you were first born, now I can see alot of your mom too. 

You're smile. Oh that smile. It gets me every time. Last night, we played and it was the first time I've seen you really truly giggle. You have you're mom's laugh. More of a lack of sound. You inhale, but last night you were giggling and Aunite nanners and me. :) Needless to say you make me happy. 

You're uncle Jeremy got Married! Which means that you now have another auntie. Auntie Kayla. I'm not sure if thats what she wants you to call her or not. :) 

You're growing so fast and I love every minute of it. I'm going to be very sad when you and your parents move out of your Dede's house because you won't just be next door anymore. I'll miss spending time with you and you're mommy, but trust me as soon and mommy give me the okay you're going to spend the night with me. probably not until you can talk. and maybe even are potty trained. love ya kid but you spit up on me and it kinda grosses me out. haha. I'll update you with some pictures from you're baby hood. 

You at your Uncle's wedding!

Playing in the grass for the first time!

At Kyle's going away party. (He went to Bethel) 

How time flys!

Sweet baby forgive me. I am much slower at updating your blog than I  had planned i'd be. Let me reflect on the past 3 months. Yea - you're already 3 months old. Well pretty close anyways.

The first month:

Lets be honest. You slept alot. But you were so good. So quiet. My favorite thing you did was you slept really good when you were laying on someone's chest. I think the you really liked the rhythm of us breathing. We also took our first road trip with you when you were just a few weeks old. We went to visit your great mawmaw, but i've already told you about that. 

2nd month:

YOU ROLLED OVER.

Of course it was just once, and on the table at the doctor's office, and you refuse to roll over again, against all our trying, but still. you rolled over. period.


You're way more awake now. You look at me and I think you actually remember who I am. You smile so much now. Its a big goofy grin but it makes me smile. You don't love the fan as much anymore. You still like it but I think you are more into everyone else around you. We have so much fun guessing what you are thinking. You talk to me alot too. I think you talk to everyone, but I'm going to pretend like its our little thing. You try to blow your lips like I do too. Its adorable. You love music and flashy lights. We watched american idol the other night and you kept giving Auntie Nanners (Lana) dirty looks because we were talking. You were sitting in your bumbo chair just paying really close attention. The greatest debate in the house is about the flower arrangement above the couch in DeDe's living room. We think you don't like it. She thinks you do. You always stare at it, so as soon as you can talk you better tell her you don't like it so we can replace it! You also went on your second road trip. We went to visit Corey and Brittney. We had a fun weekend, but I think you missed being at home. You REALLY like Milo! You love to watch him and he's really good with you. Right now you're really into Uncle Ben. Mommy says you laugh alot when you're around him. You laugh is pretty precious! You're up to 13 lbs now. You're getting so big and so strong too! You can stand up while someone holds your arms and your neck is stronger too. We practice with you regularly!


You have a new friend. He was born January 24th at 7:12 in the morning. His name is Beau Andrew Dixon. I think you're going to be good friends. Growing up, your mommy and I have a friend that was our age. His name is Corey. You met him. We were all best friends growing up, he is like our brother. We really loved having him around and I think Beau might end up being the same for you. I would love that for you. You can always use someone looking after you. :) 


I can't wait to see how you change and grow. We try to share you among the family. Trust me it gets hard, but we make due. Its just proof of how many people you have that love you and want to take care of you. You're Mommy and Daddy have done a wonderful job sharing you with us! 


Til next time Chick-a-dee!


Here's some pictures to remind you how little you were:

                                                 2 Weeks old

3 Weeks old

           

                                                2 Months Old