Mia Isabel DeMichiel has arrived!

We have a healthy and beautiful baby girl!! Mia Isabel arrived at 6:43pm on May 29th, weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and 19 inches long. I ate Skipolini's "prego" pizza on Thursday for dinner and started having labor pains at about 2:30am....that pizza has worked twice for me! I went to the hospital on Friday morning around 7:30am, as I was scheduled to be induced. They gave me a little bit of Pitocin to progress things, but it still took a while! I pushed for 45 minutes, which was SO much better than the 2 hours and 45 minutes with Jake! We have giggled at the fact that she has as much hair as Jake did at a year and a half! It's very dark and who knows, we might even be able to get a bow in there soon! We are recovering well so far and are just thrilled to have this new addition to our family. Jake met his sister this morning and we're pretty sure he was more excited about his donut than his new baby sister, but he did seem to like her! He noticed that "baby come out of Mommy's belly", and gave her some love too. Here are some pics....can't wait to introduce you all to her!

Farmer Jake

This is one of Jake's new favorite hats. When he puts it on, he insists that we sing "Old MacDonald"....or "e-i-e-i-o" as he calls it.

Why wear one hat when you can wear two?

As many of you know, Jake is obsessed with hats, helmets, and will even wear buckets on his head if no hats are readily available. Today I caught him outside with his baseball hat on, and then his helmet on over it.....and the helmet was backwards. What can I say.....the kid knows how to make me laugh!

Cousins

It's so fun having family close by! Jake and Grady are two of the cutest little guys around (I'm not at all biased) and it's going to be so great watching them grow up together!

37 weeks

I'm 37 weeks pregnant and ONLY posting these belly pics to appease those of you out-of-towners who insist on seeing them! When Jake gets a peek at my belly button, he cringes and says "a yucky mommy" and covers my tummy back up as quickly as he can. I can't say that I disagree with the kid! At my Dr. appointment last week, the Dr. said that if baby (yes, we still haven't named her) hasn't arrived by 5/30, she will likely induce. I'll keep you all posted!

Bailey 2002 - 2009

It's taken me some time to be able to make this post, but we lost our Bailey in March. Our lovable companion is gone and while it pains my heart that he is no longer with us, I'm so grateful for the love and laughs that he brought to our lives. He was of course, the best dog EVER....the sweetest, cutest, dopiest, goofiest, and most lovable dog we could have asked for. We made the decision to put him to sleep, as he was not eating. And for a dog who would get his head stuck in the bottom of the BBQ trying to reach one sliver of leftovers, that was a red flag for us that he was not feeling himself any longer. We cherish the memories that we have of him and thank him for all of the stories that will make us laugh, always!

Here is a link to some pics that were taken by our friend and neighbor.
http://pambiasotti.com/blog/2009/03/28/good-night-sweet-bailey/

Jake's Birthday Party

Well, we didn't get very many cute pictures at the party (we were too busy having fun!), but I have to post something!! We celebrated Jake's 2nd birthday with lots of family and friends. The bounce house was a big hit (with kids and adults alike!), and so was the pinata. We had so much fun celebrating and just can't believe that our "baby" is TWO! Where does the time go??!! Thanks Auntie Kelli and Uncle Rob for ALL of your help!

Family trip to Yosemite!

We spent a long weekend in Yosemite with Mom, Peter and Auntie Julie (we missed you, Uncle Tim!!). The weather was beautiful and we had a great trip! We saw the waterfalls at their peak, which was amazing. We did the Valley Floor tour, some great walks, and finished it off with brunch at the Awahnee (I think they are going to start charging double for pregnant women after having me as a customer)! Jake had a blast looking for bugs, playing in the sand/water, walking, and riding the "train" on the tour. He also enjoyed the loose rules on junk food consumption while on vacation :) We almost started WWIII tonight when the carrots were NOT followed by ice cream! THANKS Mom and Peter....it was GREAT! FYI, the pictures are blurry, which is a bummer....we had several people take group pics for us and I didn't realize that somewhere along the way, the setting on the camera got messed up!

A visit from our favorite WA residents!

Staci and Kathy came into town and we got to spend such a nice long weekend together! They came for my baby shower (thanks Julie, Kelli, Staci, Kathy and Mom!!!) and it was fabulous.....so girly and fun! They also came to spoil Jake rotten! He had a blast with his "Auntie Staci" and "Kaffy".....in fact, he is STILL asking for them. Please move back to CA.....we miss the Darlington/Wallace families too much!!!

Belly pics

Here is the belly at 33 weeks....getting large! Starting to coundown...she'll be here SOON!

Jake is 2!!

We had quite a weekend....Jake turned 2, graduated to a "big boy" bed, and we had a great Easter! Can't believe our "baby" is already a "kid". So far, he's done great in his new bed....he did make one big thud to the ground on night one, but that was due to faulty bed rail installation from Mommy and Daddy :) Luckily, it didn't phase him at all. We're keeping our fingers crossed that all continues to go well. He had a great birthday.....loved all of his gifts, but the most enjoyable party for him was definitely the candles. Maybe if I sing and do candles at every meal, he'll start doing a better job eating??!! Oh, and he's officially obsessed with his bike helmet....much more interested in it than the bike! He hunted for eggs this morning at our house when he woke up and also at Grammie and Gramps with the Foley kids. What a whirlwind....but lots of fun! Pics from the weekend's events are below.

New Scooter

Jake has a new obsession....his scooter.....or "cooter" as he calls it. It is like Wrestlemania each time I have to bring him inside and pry the scooter out of his hands. He's amazed us at how quickly he has picked it up. Within 2 days, he was already going off the curb. He definitely gets his athletic abilities from Daddy! Oh, and he's also obsessed with sunglasses :)

Let's go fly a kite!

When we woke up on Sunday morning, we noticed it was quite windy, so we decided to take advantage of it and fly Jake's new airplane (of course) kite! We had NO idea just how windy it really was!! It was perfect to get the kite in the air, but quite a chore for Brian to reel it in! We thought Jake would be totally enthralled.....he shrieked when it went up in the air, and he was over it after about 30 seconds. Maybe it was the fact that a park was only 50 yards away :) In any case, it was a nice (and chilly) family morning!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Yes, Jake is both lucky AND charming! He seemed to understand that there was a purpose to his green shirt today. We made shamrock cookies with sprinkles, which was fun.....though Jake doesn't quite get that they have to bake before we can eat them...he stood at the oven screaming "cookies, sprinkles" for quite some time. We'll be enjoying corned beef and cabbage tonight when Daddy gets home (though our little vegetarian will protest and stick with his veggies, I'm sure!). We'll be going to round 2 of the Irish feast tomorrow night at Mom and Peter's with Auntie Julie and Uncle Tim, so we'll get our fill of sodium for the month!

Jake using his words!

We've been trying to get Jake on video to show how much more he is talking, but when you ask a question like...."Can you say airplane?", he replies with "Yes", instead of "Airplane". Soooo, we've resorted to reading books on camera so that you can hear his words! Might be tough to hear and hopefully you can see the book to see what he is talking about. Some clips are shorter than others. There is also a video of Jake and Daddy playing "Tickle Monster"....you know, the giggles where they can hardly breathe and you're not really sure if they're loving it or hating it, but the laughs just keep coming!

Play Date with Grandad!

Grandad came over to play today and Jake had so much fun that he cried when Grandad had to leave :( They worked with tools, played catch, and Grandad did his famous flip with Jake....I hope I can pull this off with my great-grandchildren when I'm 80-something!

Bailey turns 7!!

We are thrilled to report that our wonder dog has made it to another birthday! We celebrated.....with hot dogs and cupcakes, of course! Jake helped me make the cupcakes and enjoyed his first cake batter beater. Jake and Bailey both enjoyed their cupcakes (see picture) and Bailey is still the quickest in the house to gobble up a treat, but Jake is a close second! We had to remind him to breathe between bites ;) Now that everyone is asleep, it's time for me to enjoy the remaining dozen or so cupcakes! We love you, Bailey!!!

Ultrasound Pic

I went and had the 4D ultrasound this morning and it was very cool (Thanks, Caron!!)! Little Missy is quite a mover though, so I don't have too may shots where her arms aren't in front of her face, etc. She tended to have her arms up like boxing gloves in front of her face.....guess she's preparing for life with a big brother! This pic is the best one of her face, and you can still see her hands/arms on the side of her face. I think it's pretty tough to tell what she's gonna look like, but I'm sure she'll be cute ;) I'm sure it'll shock you all, but I did ask them to check between the legs one more time and they said 100% girl.

Syrup, syrup, everywhere!

We made waffles the other morning and Jake enjoyed some with us. As we were clearing the table, we looked over and he was licking the plate so clean that it was practically stuck to his face! It was in his hair, on his jammies, and everywhere else! He smelled like syrup even after a shower.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jake is looking handsome in his Valentine's Day shirt from Papa and Tutu!