Brother and Sister!

Okay, so I FINALLY got Abbie to hold Brady. Up until now, she has actually been not too interested in holding him. Don't get me wrong, she has kissed, hugged, told him "nigh-nigh", etc, but she didn't show any interest in holding him. Today I asked her if she wanted to hold the baby, and she enthusiastically responded with "YEAH!" I tried to shove him in the corner so she couldn't do any damage if she shifted = ). These were the best pics I got... they aren't perfect, but they are definitely a start to the sibling love pics I'm sure I'll keep taking! She liked it so much that she actually had a mini-melt down when Mommy had to take Brady away. It was too sweet. She loves touching his nose for some reason, and his eyes, which is a lot more of a hazard... today she was extremely interested in his hands and feet and has held his hands quite a few times. We were all in our St. Patty's day garb as we are having a party tonight, so it was a perfect photo op! (You can click on the collage to enlarge it! )

Brady Nathan Merritt

Well!!! He's here!!!! I went in to get induced at 6am, they started pitocin at 7, Dr. broke my water at 8, and Brady was born at 10:18 am. CRAZY birth experience. The contractions got REAL intense as soon as the doctor broke my water, so I was able to ask for the epidural right away, it was great. I pushed twice, and he was out! I know some moms reading this right now hate me for that comment! HA! He was 9lbs, 2oz, and 19.5 in. We call him our little linebacker. = ) He is doing great. He is a little jaundiced, which we expected because Abbie was, so he's on the "Billi-Blanket" for a day or two. His levels weren't as high as Abbie's so hopefully we'll be done with that soon. I am doing well, very sore, and very tired, obviously, but under the circumstances we are awesome. We've gotten a lot of help from my parents, and then Nate's mom will come in few days, and my aunt will come as well, so we are blessed to have people who want to help us out! Nate was able to get a week now, and a week later off to have some family time, so that is great too. Thanks so much for all your prayers, support, encouragement etc.

Tomorrow Morning!!!

Well, it's finally here, the day when we get to meet our little man! We are going to the hospital at 6 am tomorrow morning to be induced. I'm so excited, scared, nervous, but mostly excited! It's weird having a specific date that you KNOW you're going in to have a baby. It takes a lot of the panic/drama out of the birthing process because you don't have to rush around because your water broke, or worry about timing contractions, so that has been nice. Please pray for a safe, healthy, painless, quick delivery of Brady into the world. We will post pictures as soon as possible! Thanks!

Dancing Queen

Dancing Queen from Jennifer Merritt on Vimeo.

Okay, for the full effect of this video, please click on the pause button on the blue playlist so the music turns off....

Let me point out a few things...first of all, one of Munch's favorite things now is to be "nakey baby" and run around in her diaper. Please disregard that this particular diaper has not been changed for a good several hours and is very soggy and droopy.

Also...you'll notice her saying "I-gly". We have NO idea where she got that, but it means that she wants to do it by herself and doesn't want anyone else to help her/do it with her.

She was going around telling us all "YOU! I gly." We are assuming that meant she wanted to dance by herself. She had quite the determination....

Also, she came up with this particular dance move by herself, and it's a keeper, let me tell you. Gyration for sure. Watch out Dancing with the Stars... here comes Abbie.

PS I did cut her bangs a little too short.

Counting Down... = )

Well, I am now almost 38 weeks...I'm huge and definitely ready to have a baby!!! We have been trying to soak up all the "alone time" we are having with Abbie before she is not the center of the world anymore. I know she will adjust just fine, but it will be a little sad not having just her to concentrate on. I've scheduled an induction date at 6 am on March 4th. So the longest I can go from today will be 2 weeks, although obviously I'm really hoping to go into labor before then! I'm already dilated to 2 cm, so we'll see what next week's appointment will tell... We are all ready and waiting! I've had some contractions, but nothing consistent. My water broke last time, and we went right in, so I'm not used to timing contractions. It was way easier to have my water break! We'll see!

In other news... Abbie has been talking a lot more. I'm so proud of her!! She is so much fun! The things she comes up with totally cracks me up...We've been trying to teach her how to say Brady, but she can't quite get the R sound down. Oh well. Her new favorite movie is Finding Nemo. She loves all the fish and colors, and I swear she knows the plot line. We finished putting up chair rail and painting her big girl room, and it looks so adorable. I will be sure to post pictures of that as soon as I remember to actually take a picture! These pictures are of her and her friend Eli (who she phonetically calls "Eye-li) coloring together on Color Wonder paper (which is the best invention EVER). They were sharing the paint brushes and "talking" in their own 2 year old language. She's kind of obsessed with him, she's even woken up in the morning a few mornings and called for him! So funny! Well, obviously we will keep everyone updated...

Play Gallery

We found this place in Delafield thanks to a friend of mine... it's fabulous in the winter. It's a huge indoor place with murals on the walls and a million things to do!! A 6 foot pirate ship with a ramp up and a slide down...a reading room, an art room, musical instruments, a stage with dress up clothes, moon sand... it's awesome. Munch loves it!!! When my parents and grandparents were in town we went to get out of the house. Abbie had so much fun showing everyone around. Of course it was the coldest day of the year... (I think the high was about -6), so there was literally NOONE there!!! We had the entire place to ourselves. It was so fun. Abbie made a beautiful painting as always. I think she's artistic = )

Birthday Girl!!

Here are some pictures of Abbie's 2 year old birthday party!!! We had so much fun! We had to have it the day after her actual birthday because Daddy was on call on the 13th. We had a lot of guests... my parents, grandparents (JJ and Papa), Ryan and Anna, and us! She was extremely overwhelmed with the amount of presents!!! We are having fun playing with them now though. She had a Tinkerbell cake and Pizza for dinner. I think I had more fun than she did...= ) At least now I have more toys to play with, I was getting a little tired of her old ones.... = )