Luke is One Month Old!!

Man, how time flies. Luke is one month old already. I can't believe it. We've been enjoying our time at home, but unfortunately I only have a few more weeks before I have to return to work. Luke is a very easy baby (knock on wood!) and is a pretty good sleeper, especially at night. Most of the time we only get up once with him at night. What a blessing!

We enjoyed Memorial Day weekend in Wheaton. Melissa, Stephanie, Mike, Maggie & Molly came to visit and meet Luke. We had such a great time seeing them. Mike & Justin got to go to the Cubs v. Cardinals game and we visited Brookfield Zoo on Sunday. Too bad the weather was so hot! We were all hot and exhausted by the end of the day. On Monday, we took Luke to his first parade. Wheaton has a very nice Memorial Day parade and we managed to watch the entire parade and get back in the car before the downpour began.

At the Memorial Day parade

Luke with Aunt Maggie

Lauren and Stephanie

Molly "admiring" Luke

On the carousel. Lauren loved it. Molly, not so much.

We've been on the "Tour of Luke" recently to introduce him to our family and friends. Of course, everyone thinks he's adorable and his big sister loves showing him off! We enjoyed visiting Iowa for a few days as well and Luke got to see Papa and Memaw, as well as meet his Grandpa and Grandma Great, and his Great Aunt Becky and Great Uncle Denny, Aunt Kris and Ericka. We had a great time.
Enjoy some pictures:

Luke meeting Gigi

Luke with Grandpa Great

Luke with Grandma Great

Luke's BFF, Noah Simpson (6 months)

Cindrella and Belle, AKA Lauren and Jessie Simspon (2 1/2 yrs.)

We are also very excited for Lauren's 3rd birthday on Sunday! I can't believe that my baby girl is already 3! We love her more every day. Her personality is so funny and she is as sweet as can be (let's hope that remains after she turns 3! I hear three is worse than two!) We're planning a fun Mickey Mouse birthday party at the Splash Park, although if you ask Lauren she says that we're having her birthday at Disney World! She's a big dreamer! :)

"Cinderella" feeding her Baby Jo.

Lauren painting in Iowa.

Thanks for checking in on us. Check back for pictures from the big party!

Until next time--

Welcome Baby Luke!!

It has been awhile since I posted, but we have a GREAT excuse!!  We're thrilled to introduce, Luke Michael Mead!  Our son was born on May 9 (Mother's Day) at 6:59 p.m.  He weighed 6 lbs, 13 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.  He is such a sweet, sweet baby and definitely a mama's boy already!  (Good thing because Lauren is a Daddy's girl through and through!) 

We actually had gone to the hospital on Friday, April 30 as I was having contractions about 2-3 minutes apart, but since I didn't make much progress in the 5 hours we were there, they sent me home.  On Sunday, May 9, the contractions began again in the morning and by 11:30 a.m. they were about 3-4 minutes apart and much stronger, so after dropping Lauren off with the Zorn's, we headed for the hospital.  I walked for about an hour once we got to the hospital to get things progressing and by 3:00 p.m., I was checked into a room and the doctor broke my water.  It was such a different experience than with Lauren.  Everything went so quickly this time.  I was so happy to only push for 10 minutes instead of 3 hrs like with Lauren!  Luke came out screaming!   Click here.  He immediately sucked his thumb when the nurses were checking him out, although we've only seen him do that briefly since then. 

We came home from the hospital on Tuesday and have been enjoying our time at home getting to know our new son.  

He is a perfect baby and Lauren absolutely adores him!  She always wants to talk to him and check on him to make sure he's doing okay.  It's very cute.  He eats like a champ and is starting to sleep longer stretches at night...sometimes going 4 or 5 hours at a time. 

We can't believe he's two weeks old already.  We went to the doctor today for his 2 week check up.  He weighed 7 lbs, 7 oz!  YEAH!  He even rolled over twice on the table for the doctor today...he's brilliant!
We're really enjoying this summer like weather.  Thanks for checking in on us.  I'll try to keep pictures updated a little more frequently.

Feeding our babies.

First trip to the park at one week.

First bath. 

Thanks for checking in on us.
Until next time--

 

Easter 2010!

We've had a very busy Spring so far and are really enjoying the great Spring weather!  Lauren attended 3 Easter egg hunts prior to Easter (yikes!!  Did you know that Easter eggs contain desserts?  Yum!!)  We had a great time enjoying egg hunts at the church, the zoo, and with my Newcomer's group.  It all culminated in spending Easter weekend with my family and another egg hunt!  Whew!

Here are a few pictures from the Cosley Zoo egg hunt. 

Lookng for the eggs.  Lauren was very picky about which eggs she picked up.

So excited with her eggs! 

Meeting the Easter Bunny for the first time.  She liked it better with Daddy next to the bunny.

We spent Easter in Iowa enjoying dyeing eggs with cousin Stephanie (and Tinker Bell fairy dust of course!), enjoying time with family, and eating too much.  Click here to watch Lauren opening her Easter basket.

Click here to watch the Great Easter Egg Hunt!!

Lauren, Steph  & Emelia

Thanks for checking in on us.  We're busy preparing for the arrival of Baby #2.   
Until next time--

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Lauren wanted to wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day today!!  Enjoy her Little Leprechaun song.

Click here.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

We spent Valentine's weekend in Washington D.C. visiting the Malsches.  Yes, Washington D.C.---the place with 40 inches of snow!!  Luckily it didn't delay our travels and we had a great weekend.  I forgot my camera, so I only have one picture to post.  Despite the crazy snow, we had a great weekend.  Lauren LOVED following her older cousins around all weekend.  We spent one morning at the Air and  Space museum.  It was very neat and Lauren enjoyed seeing the "huge planes."  She also was convinced to go sledding at one of the Battlefields.  If you know Lauren, she's not the biggest fan of being in the cold or the snow, but she really enjoyed it and spent over an hour sledding. To top it off, the weather was sunny and beautiful all weekend!!

The weekend before Valentine's Day, Lauren enjoyed decorating Valentine's Cookies with Caroline and Ashley.  Aunt Becky sent Lauren 8 tubs of sprinkles!!  Whew!  That's a lot of sprinkles (and I'm still finding them hiding on the floor).  I made lots of cookies and the girls enjoyed piling on the sprinkes.  As you can see from the pictures, piling of sprinkles is not an exaggeration.  Thank you Aunt Becky for the sprinkles!!  Great idea and it made for a very fun (and messy!) morning. 

Lauren is very creative and really loves pretend play.  She is often twirling around the house in her princess dresses, enjoying tea parties with her stuffed animals and tells us the funniest things.  The other day she was wearing her Cinderella dress and told Justin she needed to put on her glass slippers so she could go find Prince Charming at the ballgame (instead of the ball!)  So funny.

Thanks for checking in on us.  We're off to Iowa next weekend to celebrate my grandparents' 60th anniversary.

Until next time--

A Fun Day in the City!!

Lauren was so excited to spend the day in downtown Chicago with her Aunt Megan, cousins Ashley & Caroline, cousin Michael and Nonny and Boppy.  Mostly she was excited to go by herself without Mom & Dad!  She is quite the independent one.  It's probably a good thing Mom & Dad weren't there as they spent the morning at the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) observation deck.  They got to walk out on the glass platform.  Lauren cautiously enjoyed it.  She kept her feet on the carpet and looked down 103 stories!!  YUCK!  Check out the pictures.

After a quick lunch, the group was off to enjoy the afternoon at Shedd Aquarium.  Lauren told me her favorite thing was the "big giant turtles."  She had a great day.  Thanks to Aunt Megan for letting Lauren tag along for the day.

Thanks for checking in on us. Until next time-