Just for comparisons....

Since so many people have noticed the similarities between Easton and Alivia, here's a comparison photo. They are both 1 day old in their photos.

Kinda scary, isn't it?

Introducing....

Alivia Rose Gardner
Born December 6, 2011 at 9:33 pm
6 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches
We are SO in love.

A peek inside our lives

Here's a little peek at what we've been up to since the weather turned cool....

Carving "punkins". Easton was very good at scooping out the guts. Except, he kept trying to eat them. I don't understand why he'll eat slimy pumpkin goo, but he won't eat the delicious meals I cook....

Dressing up for the annual family Halloween party. E was very excited to look "spooky" and scare everyone. He also thought it was his job to entertain everyone and used the microphone every chance he got.

Baking cookies. This is what happens when E sneaks too many of the caramels while we bake...

Playing in the leaves...

Checking out the Pumpkin Walk. *My camera died after one photo so this adventure was very undocumented...

Dragging Kade to Thriller....

Picking pumpkins from the patch...

Going for lots of pretty drives and walks in the fall scenery

In other news, Livvy is *scheduled* to arrive on December 4. That means we have 6 more weeks or less until our little sweetie comes. E is very excited to meet "Baby Livia". I hope everyone else is enjoying fall as much as we are. I hope it sticks around for a few more weeks, at least.

Downward slope!

So here we are! 23 weeks down and 17 to go until we meet our precious baby girl. Easton has finally decided that it's his sister in my belly and not a baby giraffe like he thought for most of the pregnancy. I'm very proud of my special little guy and I have no doubt that he is going to be the best big brother. He's developed a little bit of a soft spot for the girl next door. Last week in nursery, she was upset and he tried everything he could to try to make her happy again (Later in the day he even told me that he wanted to kiss her! Uh-oh!). If he's that sweet to his friends, he'll be over the moon for his little sis. We're very happy to have a few weeks of summer still left to enjoy. I'm finally finished with summer classes and couldn't be more relieved. I even managed to get fairly good grades (2 B+'s) in my classes despite my lack of motivation to work.

In other news around the house, we've finally settled on a name for Baby Girl. And you'll probably all be surprised to hear that it's not Kadynce OR Charlotte. Her name is...*drumroll*...Olivia! We LOVE it. I hadn't ever given the name a second thought or loved it until I was reading names outloud to Kade and Olivia was one of them. He said "Livvy Lou!" and that was it. We were sold. So, Little Miss Livvy she is. The bad news for Miss Livvy is that I apparently stink at growing umbilical cords. At our 20 week ultrasound, they learned that Liv's cord only has one artery and one vein instead of the usual 2 arteries and one vein. This can lead to problems with kidneys and such for her, but she appears to have a clean bill of health and looks very good. So, worst case scenario for her, she may not grow as much as we would hope for. If that's the case, I'll be induced at 37 weeks. However, my doctor has assured me that many people with single artery cords are able to carry full term without any problems. We're hoping that's the case for us as well. As miserable as the end of pregnancy can be, I would hate for Livvy to have to come early and be at risk for any complications.
As for our sweet Easton, he's growing before my eyes. If it's possible to fall in love with him any more than I have, he makes sure I do everyday. He talks my ear off all day and is always coming up with the silliest things. I love his energy and I live to hear him tell me how much he loves me. I can't even begin to count all of the new things he learns everyday. His vocabulary blows me away sometimes. He counts to 14, knows so many songs I can't keep up, and is really starting to develop an imagination. His favorite thing to do is ride his bike outside and play Angry Birds (don't judge me). We're working really hard on learning colors. He knows all the color names, but can't quite grasp which is which yet.
That's about all that's been happening around the Gardner home lately. We'll be sure to keep you posted on Livvys' progress :)

Baby Girl Gardner

Here it is! The first look at our beautiful little princess. Now we just have to decide...is she my Charlotte or Daddy's Kadynce? (Go team Charlee!)

Top 10 Reasons Why I Have the GREATEST Sisters Ever

1. Tiffany loves Harry Potter just as much as I do and is sometimes even MORE nerdy about it so that I don't feel so embarrassed :)
2. They make the cutest babies in the world. What more can you ask for in a sister? My 3 nieces and 1 nephew are so sweet they give me cavities.
3. Gaucamole night. Enough said.
4. They let me vent without judging me for my craziness.
5. Because they know what a sissafend is. (Don't ask...)
6. Because Tiffany practically had a panic attack when I was going out of town for a week. It's nice to know people like having you around.
7. They inspire me to be a better mother. I could only hope to be *half* as great at motherhood as they are.
8. Lindsay lets me vent about work AND she gets it.
9. They wore my parents down well enough so I could slide right through my adolescence. (HA!)
10. Because I can ALWAYS 100% count on them--no matter what :)

The Gardner Family Expansion

Okay, admittedly, I am the worst blogger in history. I'm trying to accept it. But, I've been waiting for a couple months to write this post, so I'm taking the time to do it. Kade and I are finally so excited to announce: Baby #2 is on his/her way to our home. It took lots of months and lots of...work? Yeah. It was lots of work. But FINALLY! Baby is coming. We had our first ultrasound this week and got to see our little tadpole swimming around in his pond. (I say "his" I think because I don't know what it's like to say "hers".) Anyhow, so far this pregnancy is going well. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 2nd trimester (aren't all pregnant women?). We'll keep everyone posted and share all of the details of this very exciting family expansion!

To Easton

To my sweet baby boy:

Today you turn 2! It is pretty shocking, I know.

We've had a lot of fun together this year. We've had a lot of firsts:

First time at the zoo

First haircut

First time coloring

Right now, you really love to color and read stories

And you love to be with Mommy and Daddy.

You're growing right before our eyes. If only I knew how to stop you!

You learn something new everyday, and I am constantly amazed at how smart you have grown (Even though you are VERY silly sometimes).

You're a very special boy, and Mommy and Daddy love you more than life.

Happy Birthday to the greatest boy this world has ever known.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Kade Shakes It

The Pokey

Happy New Year!

Sooner or later I'll remember that I need to upload photos first, and blog second....Oh well..Here are the pics.

Easton's favorite Christmas present were his Bathtub crayons, I think. He gets SO excited to shower now, and draws all sorts of things for me in the tub.

He wasn't so sure about Santa, but he didn't cry. He's just really shy these days.

So, I haven't posted in months. But, because I'm a full-time wife/mommy/employee/student, you have to forgive me. Kade and I both did pretty well in our classes this semester. We're not very excited about school starting again next week, but we'll hang in there, I'm sure. We all had such a very fun, very busy Christmas. Easton still doesn't quite understand the concept of Santa and holidays, but he sure knew just what to do on Christmas morning with his presents. Our little bug is going to turn 2 next week, and I can't believe he's growing up so fast. I could swear I just brought him home from the hospital. He's learning and growing so much lately.

Here are a few of the new things he does now:

-He sings his ABCs AND does a pretty good job of it. I'm pretty sure he sticks a 9 in there somewhere and a "Gobble gobble" instead of a W, but hey...it's still pretty great.

-He counts to 10. He forgets about 7 alot, but otherwise, it's flawless!

-He walks up/down stairs without help. No more crawling up or down for this guy.

-He's still a really picky eater, but he LOVES pizza. In fact, I've learned that if you tell him something is pizza, he'll eat it. Even if it is nothing like pizza at all. This was a very handy trick to learn.

-He talks in sentences. Usually the sentence starts with "I am" or "I want", but it's pretty cool.

-His favorite thing in the whole world right now is laying in Mommy's bed. I know it's a bad habit, but I just love his little sleepy face.

-He's completely obsessed with snowmen. I can't tell you how many times a day I have to draw a snowman for this kid. It's getting ridiculous.

I hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Year. We're looking forward to what this year might bring.