A few extras...

Purple potatoes!! I had to buy these at the Market in Seattle, so Em and I enjoyed them with our corned beef and cabbage! Yum!



Julius enjoying the outdoors with the dogs. We have a nice patio and when it is sunny we go outside!!


Nana is here for a visit and she put up Julius's crib, here he is enjoying the mattress :)

And here is our BEAUTIFUL crib! Julius loves taking his naps in it!

Aunt Emily's Visit

We got to spend two awsome weeks with Aunt Emily and Gabby! Here are some of the fun times!

Gabby felt like it was her responsibility to keep Julius's paci in his mouth at all times!


Here she is pointing out to Mommy that Julius has a paci...eventually she mastered holding the paci in with one finger :)

Valentine's Day: Happy 2 months to Julius! Yes his pants are too small already and I just bought them!

Resting on the driftwood on Second Beach at La Push.


Apparently Seattle was too much for the both of them!

We are so grateful that Aunt Emily and Gabby came to visit us! We had so much fun! Hopefully we will get to see them again soon, maybe when the new little Fox joins the world!

Julius's Paci

Gabby is a big helper when it comes to Julius! She loves to help with is "paci" the most! She is also very protective of him when it comes to her Mommy getting too close :) She obviously feels like since her Mommy takes her paci, she may take his too! Enjoy!

Aunt Katie's Visit

Getting some cousin time with Galina! She's a huge fan of the polar bear jammies!
We visited the Pike Place Market in Seattle...tons of fun! I loved it, Katie wasn't too thrilled with all of the "interesting" people wandering around :)

Rachel the Pig: sort of the mascot of the Market...not sure why...

Aunt Katie knew exactly how to put Julius to sleep!

La Push Beach: Twilight fans!

Galina loved giving Aunt Mimi rocks, so of course I examined each one and then secretly placed them back on the gound...we have to leave some rocks for all of the other tourists!

Galina enjoying a little bit of the ride, Julius doing what he does in the car...

Daddy and Me

Just some cute pics of Nick and Julius...

"I don't need mistletoe to get kisses" :)

Dinner at Famous Dave's...yummy!

Christmas morning...not as early as I'm used to :)

One of the last newborn outfits that Julius fit into :)

Sleepy time!
The morning after our first night home from the hospital...we were all exhausted!

WELCOME LITTLE MAN!!

The long and winding road has finally led us here...Nicholas and I that is! My water broke on Sunday, December 13, at 3:30 am! Although I hadn't started contractions we decided to go to the hospital anyways...we are first timers :) They of course started monitoring me and that lasted for about 20 minutes until they ran 3 tests to make sure my water did break...I mean there was no other reason for me to wet the bed!! So of course we started calling everyone...I'm on the phone with Nick's Mom, Evelyn (Nana).

After confirming that my water did in fact break, the nurse said I had "bought a room" so we moved in and got comfy. We had no idea that as long as I was progressing with each check, meaning I was another cintemeter, they would let me continue along. So I did have an epidural around 5cm which meant I couldn't get up anymore...then around 10pm I was at 9cm and the doctor decided to give me pitocin to get to that 10th cm...and of course I got to 10cm. I started to push around 11pm and kept pushing for 2 1/2 hrs...then at 1:30am on Monday, December 14, the doctors decided a c-section was the only way the baby was going to come. I was in a lot of pain and in the OR we discovered my epidural was no longer working and I could feel my stomach, legs, etc. This then led them to put me under completely with general anesthesia.

Nick was ready to come into the OR but when they found out my epidural was not working and they were going to use the general anasthesia he was not allowed (breathing a sigh of relief and telling Mom his legs were already weak thinking about it)...so he and Mom were waiting patiently in the room.

And their patience paid off with this big, little bundle. Julius Grey: 8lbs. 8oz. 22in.

What can you say about this... :)

After Julius was done with his testing the corpsman handed him to Nick and said "Good Luck"...then everyone left the room :)

Nick and Granny getting some time with Julius while I was still in surgery. Granny came to recovery with me and Nick stayed with Julius...

I didn't get wheeled down until about 4:30am. I was soooo EXCITED!!!

He is everything and more!!

He is very hungry too...

First bath! Everything was done in our room so I did get to see it!!

Granny with Julius, a.k.a. number 9 :)

A little blurry but I like it.

Daddy cuddling with Julius...Granny was I'm sure enjoying a nice sleepful night...I was walking around getting back into the swing.

Daddy bought Mommy flowers and Julius a cute little beaver, he loved it! :)

This is kind of like Julius's "ugly hospital picture" because this hospital didn't offer them.

Going home...Wednesday, December 16.

Granny surprised us with a cute welcome...warm chocolate-chip cookies too!

His travel attire...he did not enjoy being put in the carseat by the way!

Here we are and honestly I would have stayed in the hospital just for three meals a day and a bed that moved up and down :)

Wow!! It is so great to have Julius here and we are so greatful for his safe arrival!

Thanksgiving, Christmas Trees, and 38 Weeks Pregnant

Thanksgiving was lots of fun! Nick got to play football with the guys from church. I got to cook Thanksgiving for two: turkey breast, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, biscuits, cherry pie (for me), apple pie (for Nick), and pumpkin pie (just because). Sadly I forgot the sweet potatoes. We are very greatful for the wonderful meal we had and for the time we got to spend together!



The Saturday after Thanksgiving we decided to go Christmas tree hunting at a local nursery and we found these guys looking big and handsome!

We found a Christmas tree too! Nick and I both think it looks as though we could have gone out in the woods and chopped it down...that's why we like it :)

And here I am at 38 weeks! Thank goodness you can't see my ankles, lol!