Christmas Pictures!

Our 2008 Christmas Family Pictures! I call this one Winter Wonderland - lol. Cute, right? With the exception of Braedy's grimace there, but what can you expect from a 6 week old. He was smiling like crazy about 15 minutes before they were ready for us, but you know how it goes - when it came time he got fussy and hungry (lil man has to eat!!).




And here's with the kiddies together....

Happy Halloween!

Okay, so I know Halloween was almost 2 weeks ago, but I'm slow at getting to these things. Now that I'm finally back to work I actually have the opportunity to update this blog (ironic, huh?). Kira was the only one to dress up this year. I felt bad because Halloween is one of her favorite "holidays", but it was hard to get into this year because we had so much else going on during October. Anyway, here she is as a cute little kitty (cutest one I've seen!). She loved this costume and I must say - it's definitely up there on my list.

"MEOW!!"

This last picture is Kira in the Halloween parade for school. It was SUCH a gorgeous day as you can tell. And she just pawwed her way along through the people with a big smile on her face (unlike the wedding - lol).

Kira the Flower Girl

Little Ms Kira had the honor of being a flower girl in a wedding a couple of weekends ago. This picture is of her and Jonathan - the nephew of the bride. She made a beautiful flower girl if you ask me - too bad she didn't make it down the aisle. LOL Well, I should say if it weren't for the gracious Ms. Drew (maid-of-honor) she wouldn't have. I'm able to laugh about it because the people's wedding she was in were very laid back and knew the possibility existed that Kira would freeze up. (Not a too long time ago this same little girl was the only one who wouldn't walk down the aisle for her preschool graduation). Of course, in good 'ole Kira fashion, once the eyes were off of her at the reception she partied it up. I didn't see her most of the night. The only rule she had was to stay in the big room which she did. Poor Jonathan - she ended up chasing him around most of the night - hehe. She had a blast, as did we all. And I must say, the Sakai's put on one beautiful wedding!! Congrats to Lindsay and Sam!!!!

Welcome - Braedy!!

So - it's been WAY too long since I've blogged. And it's entirely beating the purpose of this site if I don't keep up so here I am updating everyone....finally!! Of course, I do have a good excuse and his name is Braedy Kiernan Hill. :OD

Braedy was born on October 16, 2008 at 11:31pm weighing 8lb 2oz and 20in long. I had gone in for my routine check up the day before and was already a week late so they talked about inducing. Well, I had to let them know that the following weekend my daughter was in a wedding so the process had to begin - soon! Turns out my fluid was low so they got me in the next day anyway. Elijah and I went to the hospital at 10am and the process began around 11. It was a long day and I'm grateful for my wonderful husband and dad who stuck it out the whole time. My brother and his girlfriend were in and out and my gram, pap and Kira came later in the day (everyone was there when he was born though!). I was a little nervous with the whole inducing thing because I had heard some horror stories, but I guess I lucked out because everything went very smoothly and the staff at the hospital did an excellent job in making sure I was comfortable and out of pain. I did receive an epidural, but it was so unlike the one I had with Kira. While everything from my belly button down was pretty numb and I couldn't feel the pain of my contractions, I was completely coherent the entire time. With Kira, I became high on cloud 9 and missed out on a lot of the experience. I was happy to be able to remember everything that happened this time minus the pain. ;O) So anyway, long story short - after only two pushes Braedy joined the world and our family of three grew to four (as you can see from the picture above)!

He's been such a wonderful baby! We really lucked out with both him and Kira. He's definitely an eater though!! We took him for his check up about 5 days after delivery and he had already gained back his birth weight + 2oz. And as of his appt this past week he was 8lb 14oz and 21in long. Kira has taken really well to him as well which hasn't come as a big surprise. I do think she expected him to be able to do a little more because she grows bored with him pretty quickly. She does make sure she gets in her hugs and kisses though! And she's very proud of him - likes to show him off and tell everyone about her little brother. She's even a tad protective of him. She told Elijah and I he's not allowed to play football because he'll get hurt (awww!).

Well - I just wanted to update and inform everyone on our wonderful news. I'm sure there will be more posts as he grows and does fun new things. I do want to thank everyone for their generosity, congratulatory remarks, and thoughtfulness through everything. We have been truly blessed with a beautiful family and wonderful friends and neighbors!!

First week down!

So we've gotten week one under our belts as far as school goes. Today's the last day because tomorrow is a teacher only day. It's a good way to start out the new year - break the kids in with a 4-day week. Anyway, I just thought I'd share some pics from this week. I took pictures every morning before school to chronicle her first week as a KINDERGARTENER!!

Day #2: (Kira with Tinkers)

Day #3:

Day #4: (the Birthday Girl!)

First Day of KINDERGARTEN!!

So here she is...all dressed up and ready for school!!
Well, the time has finally come for my baby girl to officially enter into the school world. Today was the first day of school - and an emotional one at that (I blame it on the pregnancy hormones). She was such a brave little thing - VERY excited with no anxiety whatsoever. It was a lot harder on myself and EliJah though. Mommy cried and Daddy spent the day away from the house so he wasn't lonely. Here's a picture of us putting on our brave faces though:

I'm very pleased to say though that I made it through her first day (good thing I had to work or the day would've crawled along!). Her sentiments were "Kindergarten is GREAT! I love it!" Like we expected anything else, right? I couldn't get her to sit still long enough to tell me about her day. I used the clues - like marker all over her fingers - and went from there asking her questions. We made some progress, but I think she was just way too excited. So, it's back for another round tomorrow - my little girl is growing up!! :Ol

Oh - and speaking of her growing up....Thursday's the big "5"!!! We get to take cupcakes to school!!! lol Wonder how late I'll be up making those on Wed night?

Fishy, Fishy in the Pool.....

This summer has been a big one for Kira. She's learned how to ride a 2-wheeler (not up camp though, but close enough so we can pretend) and she's learned how to swim!!!! I cannot even begin to explain how far she has come since the beginning of this summer with the swimming. The first two weeks of lessons all she did was walk around the baby pool complaining about being cold (although, in her defense, the first two weeks were cold). Now, she's swimming on her own - without the kickboard even though that's what the video shows - going under the water, floating all by herself, and treading water. It'll only be a matter of time before she's doing laps. lol It's amazing!!! She just needed that little boost of confidence and then she took off with it!

7 down, 2 to go

So, I can't believe I'm actually putting this picture on the internet (stretch marks and all!), but I feel I have the duty to keep everyone updated - lol. Plus, it's fun for those of you who I don't get to see on a regular basis. But anyway, here I am 7 months along now: I've defintely started to feel myself slow down. I have my good days and bad days, but we're getting down to the wire now and I'm keeping busy trying to get ready for "Rupert". I'm on bi-weekly intervals now with my doctor appointments. Today was one of those - all is going well. He's growing "appropriately" (as I was told) and I'm healthy as well (though I'm not exactly thrilled when I have to get on the scale, lol).

Birthday, Birthday!

Okay - so I figured I'm still young enough that I can get excited about birthdays. LOL Today is mine and I'm a whopping 26! Not a big milestone, but nonetheless, another year older. My wonderful boss brought in yummy treats and surprised me with my favorite Vanilla Bean milkshake from Wendy's at lunch!! Tonight it's off to Red Lobster with the family. I've been craving it since I've gotten pregnant, but haven't seemed to get out there yet....until tonight!

Camp 2008

So this past weekend we went up to camp and I must say - it was a very relaxing time. Everyone enjoyed each other, the weather was beautiful - an all around great time! We didn't see anything, but it's almost become the norm considering how disrupted the woods are with the four wheelers and the drilling they now do on our old walking trails. :O( We had an excellent dinner Saturday night with chicken, ribs (kudos definitely go to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mike for those), and sausage - YUMMY!! No canoe trip this time, but we did do some mini-golfing and the little girls went horse back riding. The Pruss' and us are planning another trip up there sometime in August. Hopefully we'll be able to ride the raging waters of the Clarion River then! (lol) Here's some pics of our weekend - enjoy!!

And growing, and growing, and growing...

Okay, so here I am at about 6 months now. Seriously, I feel like I'm either going to have to have this baby early - or I'm going to become as big as an elephant! There's times when I feel there's no way I can get any bigger - but I have 3 MONTHS TO GO!!

The past couple of weeks haven't been too hot - doesn't look like I'm going to get that lucky in the weeks to come though. Seriously, what was I thinking to get pregnant and be huge in the hottest months of the year. LOL

5 months along.....

So here I am in all my glory - 5 months along now....

I look at this picture now and don't feel that big (although as I'm sitting here right now, it's still earlier in the day). However, when evening rolls around - I feel like a blimp!! lol

Anyway, 4 more to go...it's going to be LOONNNGGG summer - as my husband so nicely reminds me :op

Monthly Checkup....

Nothing too exciting to report really. I had my monthly check-up today and everything is a thumbs up. The due date hasn't changed after my ultrasound so that's a definite plus! (It's October 9, 2008 for those who didn't know yet.) I've been told this baby has to come quickly because Kira is in a wedding on Oct 25 so I have to be there to see her in all her glory (and to help her get down the aisle if need be - haha)!!!

I'm in my "Big Growth" stage so the baby's really going to start getting bigger now!!! I've started to feel him move around which is exciting. I look forward to when Kira puts her little hand on my belly and feels her little brother move for the first time - she'll be amazed!! It's such an awesome feeling to not only be able to share this experience with my husband, but with the most precious little thing to me on the face of this earth. It makes the whole pregnancy thing that much more special! :oD

PS - Pics are soon to follow!!!

WELCOME - The Hill's!

I figured that since we are expecting another little addition to the family, this would be the perfect opportunity to keep everyone updated and informed (those both near and far!).

And so it started.........
Being the lovely wife that I am - I gave my husband a wonderful Valentine's Day gift....a positive pregnancy test! So that was then, and now, here I am at about 4 1/2 months preganant. Just last Friday we found out some other exciting news - IT'S A BOY!!!!! Elijah and I have been going back and forth with names, as to be expected, but nothing really has stuck. Well, either that or we just can't agree. HA!! I'm accepting offers!!! :0D

Well, I suppose I better get back to work. Just wanted to get the page up and running!!! Hope everyone enjoys!!!!