Congratulations to Patti & Chris Walker

I'm elated to announce that my sister and her husband are going to have a BABY GIRL! I'm so excited to be an Aunt for the 1st time and I can't wait to spoil Patti's little girl like she has spoiled Miss Ella!

Baby Girl Walker at approx 15 weeks:

Congrats to the Walker Family!

HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter from the Herb Family to yours! We had a wonderful weekend FILLED with lots of fun Easter activities!

Ella colored her Easter eggs on Friday afternoon.

On Saturday morning we headed over to see our neighbors, The Barrett's, and had an egg hunt in their backyard. So fun! Ella decided she'd prefer to eat candy for lunch instead of the yummy Chicken Noodle Soup that Stephanie made for us.

Sunday morning we woke up to a visit from the Easter Bunny. Ella really made out well this year- her basket was filled with a bunny stuffed animal, a DVD, stickers, chapstick, candy and even her very own drum!

She decided to name her bunny "Floppy".

And finally, we got dressed up for Easter mass and then a yummy brunch at Yia Yia's afterwards. We ate so much for brunch/lunch that we barely ate dinner! It was SO good!

Here we took a quick family photo in front of our house.

Baby Boy Herb: 25 week ultrasound

Had another ultrasound today of Baby Boy Herb and the doctor sent us home with a bunch of 3D Ultrasound Pics. So cool- I had to share.

Easter Bunny Visit 2010

Happy Easter from Ella!!!

I had anticipated that Ella might have a hard time with the Easter Bunny this year after seeing her fear of Santa at Christmas.... so we have been talking about going to see him for about a month now. It was a challenge, but after waiting in line 3 separate times within an hour, Ella finally got up the guts to sit next to the bunny without crying. He rewarded her with a well
deserved lollipop!

Fun in March

It's definietly March in Colorado... 70 degrees, then a foot of snow, then 70 degrees again. Ella's been passing the time indoors playing dress-up in Mom's clothes- love the heels without pants. (She got a haircut the next day, by the way. Didn't realize how bad it was until I saw this picture! )

Here is Ella eating Granddaddy's famous chili on a cold day at home.

And finally, a picture of Ella in her new Easter Bunny shirt. So adorable! It even has a little tail on the back. Love it!

Big Girl Bed

We moved Ella into her "Big Girl Bed" from the crib exactly 1 week ago today and I'm happy to report like most things with our angel child, it was much easier than we expected.

This evening, we put Ella to bed at about 8pm. Right around 9:15p, Mark and I heard her calling for me, so I went up to investigate.

Mom: Did you call me?

Ella: Yes.

Mom: Did you need something?

Ella: (slience)

Mom: Ella, Mommy is tired. Is something wrong?

Ella: I'm thinking about it Mom.

Mom: Ok, hurry up and think. What do you need?

Ella: (silence)

Mom: Ella, Mommy was sleeping. I'm going to go back to bed.

Ella: Ok Mom.

Mom: I love you, Ella. Good night.

Ella: Goodnight Mom.

20 week doctors appt

I had my 20 week ultrasound today with a specialist to track the growth and development of the baby. I'm happy to report that despite all the complications we have had, our little guy seems to be growing beautifully. Everything is right on track and he was moving around so much that it was hard to get any good pics. Here are the few pics we were able to get.

Much to Dad's relief, the ultrasound tech confirmed, once again, that we are having a BOY! We can't wait to meet him.

Pregnancy Update

It's been over a month since I last posted news of our pregnancy and I wanted to give everyone a quick update on what's been going on. The wonderful news is that things have been moving along pretty smooth in the recent weeks.

While the complications aren't going away, we are pleased to see that nothing is getting any worse. We are blessed with wonderful friends and family who have been praying for us and this little guy. Thank you and keep it coming- we know it's working!

I am 20 weeks pregnant (halfway there!) and really started showing in the last few weeks. I've also been feeling kicking on a pretty regular basis. Yay! And the first trimester nausea and exhaustion is FINALLY over, which makes it a whole lot easier to chase around an active toddler.

We have a big ultrasound coming up on Wednesday and I'm sure I will have pictures and more news to post once we are done with that appointment. Thanks again for all the love and support!

Ella Swimming

Ella is barely even 2 years old and already and excellent swimmer. She must take after her Mom. :) Here is a short video with 2 clips of Ella in swim lessons this morning. She can swim from one platform to another without stopping or taking any breaths, although she does know how to stop and flip over on her back for a rest and a couple breaths if she wants to. It's hard to tell from the video, but the pool she is swimming in is about 25 meters and she is swimming a little over half the length of the pool on her own. WOW!

Ella singing

Ella showing off her singing chops earlier this week. She likes to make up her own songs and we frequently hear her up in her crib singing songs about various friends and family or events from the day. It's pretty funny. It's hard to catch her on video, so this is just a small sampling....