It's a girl!

That's right, it's a girl!  Kaylea (pronounced Kay-LEE) Ann Ciancio made her arrival Monday, May 7th at 3:52  pm, cst.  She came in weighing 7 pounds 1 ounce and measured 20.5 inches long.  The spelling of her name comes from my and my mom's middle name, Lea.

Thursday of last week at my regular doctor's visit, my doctor asked me if I wanted to be induced or wait it out.  I told her I would think about it and call her back the next morning.  So after a few phone calls and lots of prayer, we decided to go ahead with the induction on Monday.  Since we decided to go ahead with the induction, mom went ahead and made arrangements to fly in on Sunday.  I was very excited that she could come to be with us when the baby arrived.
Monday started off pretty early.  We had to be to the hospital by 7 (central) in the morning.  By the time I got settled into the room and the pitocin kicked in, it was about 9:30.  Labor seemed to be going pretty slowly.  I was stuck at 4cm for the longest time (I think they checked me 3 or 4 times that I was stuck at 4 cm).  The pain was starting to get pretty unbearable so Bryce asked them to check me and it turns out I was at 9 cm, so I was able to make it without an epidural.  Before I knew it, it was time to push and after 6 minutes of pushing, Kaylea made her arrival.  She has a head full of dark hair, dark blue eyes and of course she is absolutely beautiful (not that I am biased :)  Her brother was a big boy at 8.5 pounds, so she seems like a tiny little peanut at 7 pounds 1 ounce.
That night Nana brought Jack up to the hospital to meet Kaylea.  After 9 months of asking Jack if he wanted the baby to be a boy or girl and him answering no, we weren't sure how he would react to her.  He was the perfect big brother, we only told him her name once and he has been calling her Kaylea ever since.  He was very sweet and gave her a kiss and a hug.
Yesterday around lunch time they let us go home.  We came home ate lunch and rested a little, then Bryce had to head to football practice.  After it stopped raining, mom and I went to the softball field so the girls could see Kaylea.  While I was at the field mom went and picked up Jack from daycare.  When she brought Jack back he of course wanted to stay with Daddy at football practice.  So mom, Kaylea and I headed home and Jack and Bryce stayed behind.  When football practice was over they went and picked us up dinner (Texas Roadhouse, finally could eat a medium rare steak :) and came home.  When they got home, Jack immediately ran over to the pack and play looking for Kaylea.  After he saw she wasn't in the pack and play he came over to me since I was holding her and gave her a hug and a kiss.  Before dinner, without being asked, Jack put the paci in Kaylea's mouth, such a big helper already!  This morning before school he gave Kaylea one of his beep-beep toys to play with.
We feel incredibly blessed that God has given us two of His children to raise and care for.  We pray that both Kaylea and Jack will grow up to be godly people and with the Lord's help, Bryce and I can lead them in a life in that path.  Below are some pictures, in no particular order because it was too hard to get them in order :)

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter spending time with family and most importantly celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord!  Sunday we went to church then came home and put Jack down for a nap in his crib for the last time :)  Sunday night we moved him into his big boy room.  After putting Jack down for a nap, I made dinner and we ate about 3:00.  We had honey mustard pork roast wrapped in bacon, deviled eggs, corn bread, scalloped potatoes, green beans and lemonade pie for dessert.  While Jack was still napping I hid a few eggs with coins in them since he is obsessed with coins and money and putting them in his bank.  He has 2 banks that count up the change as he puts it in and cheers with each coin.  The one has so much change in it that the display is not working properly.  I guess it is about time to roll it all up and start again.  Jack also had a Easter basket with some goodies (no candy though).  He got a stuffed Mickey, a Thomas the Train mini pillow pet, a pinwheel, some DVDs (which included a VeggieTales and a Dinosaur Train), some books, stickers, coloring books and a baseball glove.  He also got a mini golf club set, marshmallows, and a Chick-fil-a gift card.  As soon as he saw the red corner of the gift card sticking out of the card, he got excited and yelled "Chick-fil-a!"  After Harold and Grandpa left we cleaned out Jack's big boy room and got it ready for him to sleep in.  Right now he refers to it as PopPop's room because that is where my parents stayed when they came to visit a few weeks ago.  First night he cried for about 30 minutes when we left but I don't think he got out of the bed because when I checked on him before I went to bed he was in about the same spot we had left him and we didn't hear and noises that sounded like the pitter patter of little feet :)  Tonight he cried for about 30 minutes again, hopefully this starts going a little better soon and we can cut the crying out totally.  Here are a few pictures from yesterday!

 With my pinwheel :)

 Stickers!

 Cheese!

 Excited about my Easter Basket!

 The basket

 Snuggled in my big boy bed!

Adventurous Day at the Park

Sunday (the 18th) we were waiting for a company to come by and give us an estimate on a fence.  They were supposed to be there by 9, at 9:15 when they hadn't come by yet Bryce called them and they said they would be there shortly.  After 10 am we realized we would miss church at this point and were still waiting around.  So we decided to go to the park with Jack so he could go down the slide since he loves that part of nursery.  The day at the park started off great.  Jack loved going down the slide and climbing back up the stairs.  He did this for a little while and was going up one last time.  Well this one last time turned out to be disastrous.  The poor little guy slipped and fell off the platform and hit his head on the way down.  Somehow (and we are extremely thankful) Jack just ended up with a deep cut on the back of his head.  I say "somehow" and "just" because he easily could have had a concussion, lost conciseness or broken a bone.  When we saw that he was bleeding we took him straight to the ER.  They decided that it would be easiest at his age to do staples instead of stitches.  Of course it was not a quick trip (about 3 hours during lunch/nap time nevertheless), but Jack behaved pretty well.  He was pretty upset when they took X-rays of his head (so I hear from Bryce, they wouldn't let me go back with him since I am pregnant).
Fortunately, I had a bag of white chocolate M&M's in my purse, we were all pretty hungry.  Jack liked to share them with Bryce and me.  He would say "Mommy pink!" and Bryce would give him a pink M&M and Jack would put it in my mouth.  Then he would want either green, yellow or blue for him and Bryce.  After he finally got the staples we were waiting for them to come and wash his hair, since this was taking forever, we just asked if we could wash it at home.  They agreed and on our way home we stopped and got Zaxby's because Jack asked for chicken.  Specifically Chick-fil-a, but he had to settle for Zaxby's since it was a Sunday.  By the time we got home with our late lunch he had fallen asleep in the car so Bryce took him up to his crib and put him down for a nap.  When he woke up I got him some milk and we watched Cars.
  Needless to say we feel blessed that he came away relatively unscathed compared to how bad it could have been.  He is definitely all boy, while we were watching Cars he would prop his feet up on the ottoman and his shoulders on the couch and his body was just hanging in between the two!  We asked him if he wanted to go back to the park and the slide and he said no, but by Monday afternoon he was asking about the slide.  So I guess he isn't too traumatized.  If you ask him if he wants to go the park he says "Noooooo."  And I will ask him what happened and he says "Jack fall down."  And I say then what and he says "and bumped his head!"  Here are some pictures of Jack enjoying the park before his little mishap.

Happy on the way to the park.

 Loving the slide!

 Wheeeeee!

 At the hospital

 The aftermath :(

 

Long time coming

Wow I didn't realize how long it has been since I have had a chance to post.  We have had a lot going on here recently.  For starters we now have a 2 year old!  Can't believe my little stinkweed is 2! Can't believe how quickly he went from this:

To this little boy at a year:

 And finally to this big boy at 2 years!

Besides celebrating his 2nd birthday, we have been busy with spring sports!  Softball for me and every spring sport for Bryce.  Fortunately our child LOVES sports and enjoys going to games.  Softball has been off to a good start and I am thankful that it helps pass the spring semester for me which can otherwise drag.  It has also been good because it has forced me to create and stick to a meal schedule.  My crock pot is getting quite the workout, but I have found some great new recipes and it is nice to have dinner ready when I get home.  It also has been saving us money since I only have to shop 1 time a month and purchase everything I know I will need.  We also found a used refrigerator for pretty cheap and are keeping it in the garage.  This also helps me only shop 1 time a month since I have extra room for meats and drinks! Of course I have to go occasionally for fruits, vegetables and milk, but it really does cut down on extra spending the less few times you have to go to the store.  Jack really loves fruit, but I was hating buying things like strawberries, blueberries and grapes because they would mold so quickly.  Thanks to the wonderful awesomeness that is the internet (specifically Pinterest)  I read that if you wash these types of fruits in a solution of 1 part vinegar to 10 parts water it will kill mold spores and make your fruit keep longer.  I have to say it worked!  The other day I bought some strawberries and before we had the chance to eat them the next day they were covered in mold!  Fortunately, Publix has a wonderful return policy and I got a new container of them, I had just read about the vinegar water trick and gave it a go.  Results, mold free for a week before I used them all up!  Another wonderful property of vinegar is that you can use it in your dishwasher instead of a rinse agent.  My dishes were coming out cloudy and I was going to buy some Jet Dry the next time I was at the store until I had the brilliant idea to find a homemade solution.  Verdict is, plain white vinegar where your rinse agent normally goes.  Someone did the math and it is something ridiculous like a 5000% savings :)  I have also read a recipe for homemade fabric softener that is just cheap conditioner, white vinegar and water.  Will definitely be trying it out when I run out!

For Valentine's day Jack and I made this cute frame for Bryce, it was really easy to make once I got Jack to settle down enough to take the pictures, the hardest part was finding the opportunity to take the pictures since I had to do it when Bryce wasn't home:

This month has already been flying by.  Two weeks left of school before spring break!  We are super excited that my parents are coming to visit over spring break and we are going to get Jack's big boy room all together.  We just ordered his big boy bed and I have a few ideas on what to do to bring his room all together.  One of the projects will include painting an old dresser instead of buying a new one.  I just so happened to see today a tutorial on how to paint it without having to sand it.  Will definitely save some time! I will post some pictures of his room at the end of the month when it has been completed.  

Every day we are amazed at how much Jack is learning and comprehending.  Today I was in his way and he said "excuse me mommy."  What a sweetie pie!  He likes to be independent but at the same time he loves being with Bryce and me.  Nothing makes my day more than when I get to pick him up from school and he runs to me yelling "Mommy!" as soon as he sees me.  Here recently he has started to fold his hands and say grace with us and he does the same at night when he goes to bed.  At bed time I say the prayer "Now I lay me down to sleep, the Lord I pray my soul to keep.  Guard me Jesus through the night and wake me with the morning light."  Every time I say the lay me down to sleep part he lays down :)    

In other news everything is going pretty well with baby #2.  I passed my glucose test, but they said my iron was low.  Which would explain my ridiculously low amount of energy.  I have been taking an iron supplement and Thursday when I go back to the doctor they will check my iron levels again.  Just over 8 weeks to go!  Well I suppose that is all for now.  I will post some more pictures next time, hopefully of him enjoying his newly finished big boy room!

What we've been up to...

Minus the videos I just posted its been a while since I have posted to the blog.  So what have we been up to?  Well, I have been purging, organizing and cleaning the house.  We have so much stuff and it has really made a build up in the house, I am starting to feel cramped!  So, I have started by cleaning out clothes.  Thanks to Pinterest, I found a new way to fold and put away my clothes that holds more per drawer and will stay more organized.  Small step, but we need to start somewhere.  Fortunately, Jack is a big helper :)  He enjoys putting his stuff away and likes to help with other chores.  He fills the washer for me with dirty clothes and helps me empty the dishwasher.  Since I now have softball everyday after school I have been getting meals ready the night before or making them in the crock pot that way I can spend the evening with Jack and not cooking.  Since he goes to bed so early, I can get the next night's dinner together and it's not too late at night.

Jack has also developed a nightly routine that he loves.  Around 7:15 we ask him if he is ready to brush his teeth.  He says "teef" and runs to the gate.  We go up stairs brush his teeth and wash his face and hands.  He then goes in his room and we get his PJ's on or "jam-jams" as he calls them.  If he is really tired we turn on his music and turtle (it shines stars and the moon on the ceiling), we get hugs and kisses and exchange "ove yous" and put him to bed.  If he is not as tired we will read a story before putting him down.  He favorite lately has been "Pretzel."  If you are not familiar with the story it is about a dachshund who grows to be the longest dachshund in the world.  Pretzel is in love with Greta (who Jack calls Pudgy), she however does not like him until he saves her one day.  Then I will rock him and put him to bed.

Other things Jack enjoys are the "Alpha-da-bet" he can recognize quite a few letters and he knows where most of them go in the song.  He can also count to 10, he tells us that he wants more of something using sign language, loves to color, play catch and play with his cars.  His favorite drink is still milk, his favorite food...well probably fruit and chicken.  He loves just about every fruit we have given him, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, melon, peaches, oranges (Mandarin, he doesn't like the skin on other oranges), bananas, cherries, grapes, and apples.  Jack enjoys going to the grocery store and pointing out all the stuff he knows.  We are also using his love of marshmallow to work on potty training.  We aren't pushing it, but if he sits on his potty we give him a marshmallow, if he ever goes on the potty we will give him 2 marshmallows.  Recently we asked Jack what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he replied "candy" when we said you can't have candy he said "cake" then "cookies" and "cupcakes" not sure where he even learned these things since he doesn't get them at home (well he gets cookies, but they are Fig Newtons).  He is a stinker!
Here are some more pictures of Jack, mostly from around Christmas.

Not super clear, but funny nonetheless 

 All smiles

 Our Christmas Tree

 Some of Little Boy's Loot!

 Christmas Morning

 With Mimi and Pop Pop

 Stickers!

 Still working on "less is more"

 At a basketball game!

    

Christmas Videos

We had a wonderful Christmas season!  On Christmas day Bryce's family came for dinner.  Then a couple days after Christmas my parents came to visit for a week.  We are back in the full swing of work, this past week was exhausting!  So glad we have a 3 day weekend!  Here are a few videos from Jack on Christmas!