Baby Boy

Has it really been over a year since my last post?? Does anyone still follow personal blogs anymore?

I have been posting regularly to Instagram, and occasionally on Facebook also, so you can find me there if you haven't already.

A lot has happened in the past year! Most notably is the birth of our third child and first son, Liam Sterling, born in the middle of June.

He is 5 months old now, and he has been the happiest, smiliest baby around! We all love him so much and are so happy to have him in our family!

Terrific Twos

Ava turned two at the end of August! We had a simple little party for her with just the 4 of us in our backyard.

Below is a video of us singing "Happy Birthday" to her. For some reason me poking her arm with my pinkie finger on "....to you" made her really sad. Luckily she perked up in time to eat the cake!

(Bonus, you get to see Ava's famous "sad face"! Haha. She makes that little droopy-head frowny face a lot. Sensitive little thing.) 

"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!"

We actually celebrated Ava's birthday a day early because Sara and I flew to California on Ava's birthday (how rude!). So here are some pics of Ava on her actual birthday:

Rob gave Ava a special birthday treat of two popsicles!

Ava and Rob taking a selfie to send to Sara and me in California.

And Ava giving kisses for the camera! XOXO

Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl!!

Baby Sister

She's here! After waiting and waiting for her to arrive, "baby sister" finally came into this world (with a little nudging from some pitocin to induce labor!) on Wednesday August 29th.

Ava Angeline Hinckley

(Angeline pronounced "line" like a straight line, not "lean".)

At a week past her due date, she was big! 

8 lbs 11 oz, 21 inches.

For those who are interested in labor details, I was able to have a successful VBAC with pretty quick progression. My Dr. broke my water at 12:45 and she was born at 5:26 after 1 hour 20 minutes of pushing.

I did have an epidural, but the contractions were coming on faster than the meds could keep up with! So for about 45 minutes, I was really feeling it before the drugs kicked back in. Sara was there during that part of my labor, and here she is snuggling in bed with me to make me feel better. :) She was a big helper and would push on my lower back with each contraction.

Sara was so excited to come back later to meet her baby sister. 

The grandparents were pretty excited too. :)

My parents. My dad flew in the day Ava was induced. My mom had already been in town since the 20th, waiting and waiting for this girl to make her appearance!

Rob's parents who live in town.

Our first photo as a family of four. These never do turn out that great, do they. :)

And some more of the new babe, since we all know that's what you're really here to see.  

 

Rob took a photo of me taking a photo. I joke that we should send it in to Apple. It would make a great iPhone advertisement, don't you think?!

Sara and Ava at home:

Sara is singing songs to baby sister in this photo. She has been so sweet with her so far.

Helping with the pacifier.

Making silly faces.

I was able to capture her first little smile on camera.

And here she is yesterday when she was four days old.

We sure are happy to have you in our family, little Ava!

Birthday Girl

Sara's birthday was last month, just a few days after Christmas. She's three years old already! We celebrated with my family in California.

Sara requested a kitty cake. This is what I came up with. I'm not too proud of it (I thought it looked like a grampa cat) but Sara loved it, and it tasted good, so that's the most important part I guess. Thanks to my sis-in-law for helping and imparting her cake decorating wisdom! She has much more experience than I do in this department.

Sara's other request for her cake was that it be pink. I opted for pink cake with yellow frosting. We put a little lemon extract in the frosting and it was tasty!

Here's what happens when you ask kids to say "Happy Birthday!" for a picture. :)

 "Happy Birthday to You..."

Blowing out the candles! (with crazy eyes, and a little help from her cousins)

After blowing her candles out, Sara said, "K, now let's get Daddy's birthday." -- so generous to share her big day with her daddy, whose b-day isn't until later this month. :)

Sara got lots of great gifts. While opening them, she kept saying cute things like, "WOW!" or "I wonder what it is?!" -- she loved everything she got. Some extra special gifts included a porcelain tea set I had when I was a little girl, and a quilt my mom made. 

Sara loves her cousin Kaya. When it was time to leave a few days after her birthday, Sara said, "I want to take Kaya with us!" They are best buds. I hope it stays that way as they get older!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARA!

P.S. just for fun, here's a look back at Sara's other birthdays:

• Her actual day of birth
• her first birthday
• and b-day number two

It's a party, it's a party for Sara!

Now that you all know of Sara's love for Gabba, here are some photos from the Yo Gabba Gabba themed birthday party we had for Sara's second birthday back in December. (I already posted these on Facebook, so if they look familiar, that is why!)

 

Gabba cupcakes

  

 A big shout-out to Rob and Angie (Rob's mom) for making the cupcakes. I just showed them what I wanted and let them go to it, and they turned out perfect! They were delicious too. :)

 

 making a wish

I think the drinks were my favorite part. We took Izze sparkling juice and added the Gabba character stickers. We got the images from the Nick Jr. website. I think they turned out so adorable! And Sara was asking for "Brobee juice" for several days afterward.

Muno pizza.

 

The kids did Gabba coloring pages when they arrived.

 

And measured their height on a Gabba growth chart. (Sara was the shortest, even though three of the kids who came are younger than her!)

 

Just another shot of the cupcakes. 

And finally, here is a video of the kids doing the Monster Moves dancey-dance game. They loved it way more than I thought they would!