(almost) perfect

I've finally found the perfect crib bedding for the baby's room to tie in the blue and yellow and a dash of pink without being too pastel-y or princess-y...now if I only I could locate that Money Tree. It's got to be around here somewhere...

China girls

Yesterday we drove to Lansing after church to meet little Lucy. She is every bit as cute in person as she is in photos :). Ella really enjoyed meeting her first girl cousin and she was happy to see that Lucy has the same Baby Stella doll as she does (Lucy's is the beige version; Ella's is the peach version) I had to laugh at this picture that my brother took of Ella in her Chinese dress with the doll they brought her back...one of our favorite jokes in our family is talking about how Ella is one quarter Chinese (she really is...see...it's funny, isn't it?)

more...because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want...

More Lucy!

Kyle and Michelle finally have their little girl in their arms after waiting three long years! She was given to them Monday morning (China time) which was Sunday night (Michigan time). My brother just sent some pictures along and I just have to share (for the rest, click here). Our first niece and she's a cute one!!

Welcome Baby Tyler!

Our good friends Derk and Bethany welcomed Baby Tyler "Ty" Andrew into the world last week in a very quick fashion. We are so happy for them and their new addition and also glad they made it to the hospital in time (with 6 minutes to spare!) This little guy along with his big brother Jalen are not only great friends and playmates for our kids, but soon they will be our neighbors too. We look forward to watching our kids grow up together (and Dylan is relieved he will have some boys to play with too and not just sisters :) ) Love you all!!

girls!

So we're still processing the fact that we will have GIRLS (plural)! I have started thinking about their rooms and I have to admit I'm having a whole lot of fun. I mentioned before that I was thinking about moving Ella into the guest room and turning her room into the nursery but I have decided that is much too traumatic and not really all that necessary now that we know we're having a girl. And Matt is relieved because I'm not making him paint anything :)

I think I have found everything for Ella's new big girl room and I should be able to switch things over fairly painlessly. We are ordering her a new bed (she's in a toddler bed now and we will need the mattress for the crib soon), a tall dresser (not a lot of floor space in her room), and new bedding (but I found stuff that matches her paint color and her curtains). These pictures give you an idea...but her wall color is green, not pink, and the comforter will be the stripes you see in the pictures, not the flowers.
For the nursery, the wall color is a goldeny-yellow and our crib is light blue (that's what you get for having a boy first!). I picked up a dresser from Ikea last time I was there but it needs to be assembled - not something I'm looking forward to. Still looking for some inspiration in that room to pull it all together. Ignore the screaming baby below (isn't he cute though?) - it's the only picture of the crib I could find - and imagine a straw yellow on the walls. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Lucy!

My brother and sister-in-law left yesterday for China to pick up their little girl, Lucy. We are very excited to meet our new niece and Dylan and Ella are excited to play with their first girl cousin. Some newer pictures of the little cutie...

4th of July

We enjoyed a very low-key 4th of July this year...a slow-moving morning and big breakfast at home (it was overcast so no hurry to get anywhere) and then we drove out to Saugatuck for the parade + ice cream. After that, we went to my parents' condo in Holland, played in the pool, ate dinner, and played at the beach.

Ella's big accomplishment this weekend was that she started swimming just with swimmies (no ring anymore) and she's learned to jump into the pool all by herself without being caught. She used to do this off of the steps into the shallow end but now she does it in the deep end and she's pretty good at "swimming" around the pool too. We laugh at her because she tends to do things only a little behind Dylan (he started jumping in by himself at the end of last summer) even though they are two years apart. Not sure if that's the difference between girls and boys or just the difference in their personalities. Our little girl is fearless - and a lot of fun to watch grow up :)
Saugatuck parade with cousins

Playing with Daddy in the pool

"Watch this, Daddy!"

Playing in Lake Michigan

IT'S A...

GIRL!!

We are very excited and more than a little surprised! We just always imagined we'd have a bundle of boys for some reason and now we're processing the fact that there is another girl in our future. Actual conversation from our ultrasound today:

Ultrasound technician: You can see here, it's a girl.
Matt: Oh! There's no weiner there, is there?
Ultrasound technician: Nope!

We are thrilled to have another daughter in our lives, although Matt is terrified at the thought of paying for two weddings (he took the afternoon off after the ultrasound and afterwards he said half kidding, "Well, I better get back to work and start making some more money.")

Right after we found out, however, I pretty much daydreamed through the rest of the ultrasound and it all made sense to me in my head...I think we might already have a name picked out and I thought, "Oh, of course, it's...[insert name; and no, you can't know yet!]

So now I have 20 weeks to plan and prepare and I'm more than a little excited to shop for little girls dresses and pull Ella's clothes out of storage bins. The boys are officially outnumbered!

Welcome Baby Knox!

Our good friends Katie and Ernie welcomed their third child into the world this morning, Knox Douglas. The kids were so excited to go to the hospital and visit baby Knox and it just gives us a taste of what's to come in 4 1/2 more months. They were fascinated by the little guy. Nice work, Katie and Ernie!