Life MORINteresting

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Elle Marie Morin is here!

Just before leaving for the hospital! We were so excited to meet our new. little babe and we were both thinking 70% girl and 30% boy...looks like we were right!

Lukey came out to announce to the family who he was a big brother too. Here Lukey is unzipping his

hoodie to announce that we have a baby...

... GIRL!

Our sweet, little miss Elle was born at 10:13 AM on Friday, July 27th weighing 6 lbs. and 14 oz. and 19 in. tall. She came out so perfect and beautiful we couldn't even believe our eyes...we are in love, again.

Our first family picture of the 4 of us!

This is the first time Lukey held sweet Ellie! Luke loves being a BIG brother and LOVES having a baby sister. He always wants to check on her to make sure she is ok. We call her "baby girl" because that is what Lukey has been calling her. :)

I adore the pictures below...

My heart melts at this picture below. We are all just so happy.

This is Lukey seeing his Ellie open her eyes for the first time!

Look Mama!

So PROUD!

Little Ellie is a great sleeper and eater...just like her mom AND dad :)

Grandpa and Grandma soaking it all in...

Great Aunt Cathy and Great Uncle Tom came to visit too! Ellie was so peaceful and content in Aunt Cathy's arms.

Elle is our little angel and we jut love her!

We loved having Auntie Meg visit too!

We are now home and adjusting to having a family of 4. This has been a way easier transition than with our big guy Luke. Partly because we love having Dad home too! Ben has summers off as well and so we have all been able to just relax around the house and take turns spending time with each of our children. Ben surprised Lukey last Friday morning with a special Father and Son trip to the donut shop downtown Rochester. With Luke's pajamas still on he loved having a chocolate, sprinkle donut and chocolate milk with his Dad for an early breakfast. They sat on the stools eating and watching the cars go by the window. :)

My recovery this time around has also been a lot easier. The first night home we all went for a walk to the park!

Us girls watching the boys :)

Later that night...Ellie's first sponge bath!

At the hospital Elle had dropped almost 10% of her birth weight and this caused a little bit of concern. We were told to wake her up every 2-3 hours around the clock to make sure she was eating. Well, to make a long story short both nights we didn't wake up to our alarm and she slept! I woke up startled and worrried both mornings but then when we had her 2nd day Dr.'s appt. she was already back up to 6 lbs. 12 oz. we were ecstatic! (Ben had guessed her weight correctly on the way to the Dr.'s...one smart man!) The Dr. gave us the go ahead to just let her sleep because she was doing so well...which has been great because she's a sleeper! At her 2 week check-up they wanted Ellie to be back to her original birth weight of 6 lbs. 14 oz. and she made it to 7 lbs. and 7 oz.!!! She's our little rockstar!

Our hospital has a photography service that comes around during your stay at the hospital to take picutres. Below are some of the pictres we got from this service...

Lukey loving on Ellie!

1 week old!

Auntie Nae came to meet her new little niece and of course, spend time with Luke too!

The walk that didn't happen. We were FINALLY all ready to go for a walk down to the park. We made it this far (to the end of our dirveway) and it started to pour rain!

SO back inside we went to play a game that Janae created... Where in the world will Janae be going to live next????

Then Auntie Nae surprised Lukey with a bath tub surprise...a foaming volcano ball!

All of the girls...

Papa and Lukey...and Luke showing off his mad pedaling skill on the 'ol red trike! Go Luke, Go!

A very proud Auntie!

Grandma Uitti comes for a visit!!!!!!

I LOVE how Elle is looking up and smiling at her Grandma...so sweet :)

I went to go check on Ellie and found Lukey up from his nap all cuddled with Grandma on the bed. So precious.

Little Yooper sweatshirt from Lukey's Great Aunt Pam!!! Love this!

Ben spending time with our kiddos. :)

A group of my girls that I teach with all came over for a visit. SO fun!

Elle had fallen asleep in the car so we had left her in her car seat to sleep. When Lukey woke up from his nap we gave him his snack and when I walked back from my bedroom this is what I found!!! Luke had taken his Elmo chair from the living room and sat it next to Ellie in the kitchen to eat his snack. I started crying when I saw this...such a sweet little guy we have.

Aunt Shelly came in for a visit! Lukey and Ellie LOVED having her here!

Matt and Megan also stopped by and it was great having them here too!

Elle's baby bath has been sitting in her closet for awhile and even before she came Luke has been asking about giving his baby a bath. We showed him Elle's "boo boo" (her umbilical stump) and explained that it had to fall off first. This led to everytime we changed her diaper, Luke would drag in his stool to watch and see if it had fallen off yet. The day it fell off Luke was so excited he grabbed the purple bath tub out, her washcloth, blanket, soap, cup, and even went back and picked out his 3 smallest bath toys to give to her during her bath :) He then helped us wash her feet and legs...

Uncle B and Aunt Mol stayed the night! This is the last picture with them holding just our kids...their little one will be born within a month!

Elle trying out tummy time...

We are so happy to announce the birth of our beautiful daughter Elle and we want to thank all of our friends and family for all of your love and support you have given our family. Like they say...It takes a village. Thank you!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Ben and I celebrated our 2nd "Babymoon" NYC style the 2nd week of June (I am 34 weeks pregnant here)! We had so much fun together while Lukey stayed back with his Aunt Nae and Grandpa and Grandma C. in DC. Ben had the whole trip planned for me and we were able to do a lot including the 9/11 Memorial, eating dessert at the infamous Serendipity Ice Cream parlour, walk in Central Park, see the David Letterman Show live, visit Columbia University, Ben got to see the famous diner that they always show on Seinfeld (one of Ben's favorite TV shows!), see The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, eat New York style pizza while watching the city out the window, and of course we fit in a daily nap to just relax. :) We loved being in the city and Ben enjoyed navigating us all around on the subway. We are thankful for this time together and now we are geared to meet our 2nd little bundle of joy sometime this month!

Luke turned 2 on May 6th! Below is his new tool bench from his Great Aunt Cathy and Uncle Tom. Luke loves fixing things around the house, especially when his Dad is working on a project too!

Luke celebrated his 2nd birthday with friends and family at his sports themed party. :) Ben is going over the ESPN Luke Morin Trivia questions/answers!

Lukey and GG are 2 of a kind!

Luke playing catch with some of his favorite cousins, Christine and Kayla!

Luke's 2nd year check-up! He is no longer getting measured on that infant scale...such a big boy! Check out his 2 year stats:

Height: 35 3/4 in. (75-90th percentile)
Weight: 30 lbs. (75th percentile)

Lukey had a great time at his mom's girl weekend in mid-June while Dad was in Florida for a wedding. He got to play with his bud Carson and snuggle Baby Laney all weekend long! Just wish this could happen all of the time!

The Morin's at our Firework show in Rochester Hills. Luke LOVED "the party" (as he called it) this year! He loved the loud music and danced the night away showing us moves like his Dad. :) His favorite fireworks this year were " the purple, red, and yellow ones."

Our little baby boy all grown up...he is Mr. Independent these days and will often say, " Lukey do it." followed with an " I did it!"

Lukey helping Daddy paint his new " big boy" bedroom with the "row row",

...and he now mows the grass with Dad,

... and his new room is all done,

... and is now sleeping in a big boy (twin) bed,

(proud Mommy and Daddy!)

... and trying really hard to push those pedals all the way down,

... and helping Dad in the truck,

.... and riding a motorcycle! :) Here Luke went with some friends to "Lots of Trucks" hosted here in Rochester Hills. Lukey got to see and drive all sorts of trucks which, Luke LOVES driving and LOVES cars, trucks, and motorcycles so this was pretty much Lukey Heaven for the day!