BABY MAKES 5!

Introducing Miss Ruby!

Born: Friday, August 22 6:46 pm EST

Weight: 7 pounds 14 ounces

Length: 21 3/4"

Here's Ruby in her special hat her favorite nurse made just for her. Apparenty she developed quite a reputation because a new nurse came in our room this morning and said "Oh, so YOU'RE the one with the pretty hat Ruby!"

Here I am, bright and early Friday morning, happy to be about the business of getting the baby OUT of my belly!


Our chubby-cheeked little sweetie, moments after being born -- already tagged for ID.


Ruby is the BIGGEST of my 3 kids -- almost 8 pounds! (For reference, X was 7lbs 1oz and H was 6lbs 10oz). I can't believe this huge baby was in there!

Proud and happy daddy! We can tell you by the clock in the background that Ruby is less than an hour old in this photo.
Meeting mommy for the first time. I was amazed by the chubby cheeks (just like the ultrasound pic on Alan's blog ). Also, she actually has a good amount of hair!

Another pic of me and my girl.

The kids came over the next day, because after I was feeling okay and had some food, it was already after 9:30. They were SO excited to meet her -- wide-eyed and quiet like Christmas morning magic!
The best shot I could get of my family -- they were a bit wiggly and giggly by this point.
A proud and excited big brother.
A proud and thrilled big sister. (The nurse made them each special wristbands to wear when they came to visit. A pink one labeled "Big Sister" and a blue one labeled "Big Brother" -- I think you can see Xander's in this photo.

Me snuggling Ruby on Saturday afternoon. At this point, little miss still didn't have a name! It took us awhile this time -- sorry to all you impatiently waiting....and waiting...you weren't the only ones! Most of her hospital paperwork says "Baby Girl Peck". When they brought her in after dinner on Saturday she had a new "Ruby" namecard in her bassinette. In the middle of the night (4am) the nurse brought her in and told me they all loved her name and that she was crying and mad, and bright red -- they said "Ruby's got her red dress on!" She does turn a lovely shade of ruby red when she's really mad! :)

Sunday morning, ready to go home. Still love the diva fancy hat.


Snug and ready to roll.
One more cute pic of each kid with the new baby. They were SO excited when we came home. We could see Hadley's beaming face through the window where she was perched waiting for us. (Wonder how long she sat there?)
She's so happy to finally be "a big sister AND a little sister".


We are home and happy and doing well. We welcome all phone calls and visitors (give a call first).

Quick shout outs and thank-you's to Cyd and Jenn for lots of babysitting, to Liz for saving me from a mental breakdown, and to Lisa for being our first official visitor and welcoming committee! (The cookies were divine -- I have devoured far more than my share already -- YUM!)

why you haven't heard from me lately

well, we went and did it...we bought a house! that makes us dual homeowners. kinda freaky, huh? i haven't posted for so long because finding, buying, moving and making the house livable was kind of a nightmare, to tell the truth. my mom (bless her!) came out (over mother's day of all times) and worked her guts out for 10 days. we had to paint EVERYTHING and are still not finished, but it does feel a lot more like home now that things are unpacked (mostly) and organized (mostly) and now that we have hot water and a dishwasher (long story).



so, i hesitantly present pics of the new digs -- i should have taken "before" pics, but trust me, there just wasn't a second to spare! also trust me when i say that it looks WAAAAAAY better than it did. (you can ask my mom). keep in mind we are not 100% and there are still a lot of odds and ends to do and some major stuff as well. for example, there are no pics of the master bedroom or office/nursery because they still need paiting and unpacking. all in good time.


here is x's room...needs window treatments and some other work still...anyone have a headboard to spare? i love the grass skirting as a bedskirt.

h's room, which is HUGE and will become the girls' (plural) room in a few month's time.
notice her "panicky" over the bed...very princess-like.

my little desk near the entryway...i keep track of bills, etc here in the desktop file and i've converted the main drawer into a charging station for ipod, phones, palm, etc.

the family room. we have a HUGE bow window, which still needs drapes. we need a big rug too and a smaller entertainment unit! (flat panel TV would rock!).

this is the "nook"/mudroom space by the back door. to the right you can go out to the garage or into a powder bath which has been completely gutted and is awaiting renovation. :) try to ignore the pictures piled on the floor and the floor itself. (isn't 70's gold linoleum the bomb?) -- the plan is for alan to replace the floor while i'm in utah for 4 weeks. (think black and white checkerboard -- anyone got mad photoshop skills they want to use to give me a mock-up?) good luck, sweetie!

family message center, mail bin, and recycling bins by the blue table, little cozy chair (groovy crocheted pillow in progress) and bookcases for me. (anyone know where i can get a little round ottoman?) to the right is the laundry room as well, and to the left, a coat closet and the door to our screened-in porch.

part of the kitchen...backsplash and countertops are not as yellow as they appear in the photo, although we have dreams of a brushed aluminum backsplash and charcoal granite-looking countertops someday. i LOVE this little counterspace because it is lower than a normal kitchen counter -- just right for the kids to help make cookies. and my kitchenaid tucks right into the corner (behind the fridge) -- all my baking ingredients are housed in the cannisters and cabinets above, so it's really convenient to bake.
another view of the kitchen -- look at the new dishwasher, mom!


built-in bookcase in the dining room -- the cabinets house the kid's dishes and their coloring and activity books.

dining room. i keep clearing off the top of the pie-safe only to have it collect clutter as we unpack more stuff! someday...
built-in hutch in the dining room, and one of my favorite things about the house!

view from the dining room into the kitchen -- remember the black and white checkerboard? it will extend through that whole area in and behind the kitchen. note the cute bee decals from my friend mary lynn! so cute!
thanks for visiting! bye!

i promised to "ketchup"! (part one)

so FINALLY i am posting christmas pics. at this point, it's more to relieve my sense of guilt than for anyone else...except you mom...maybe this will give you something to do as you recover today!

here is the first glimpse of what awaits....

xander could hardly wait for anyone!

we convinced him to let hadley walk ahead of him, since she's littler. they are clearly excited! so is their daddy!

you can see we were up pretty early...we've never seen THIS before! sunrise? what's that?

this is after all the spoils and destruction, but you can see, christmas got a "double thumbs up"

hadley was feeling pretty fabulous in her snow white costume!

alexander was the most excited by his "deep sea book" -- here he is looking at it with alan.

who knew a plastic astronaut stocking stuffer could be so exciting?

hadley in her own little world...i think it's "princesslittlepetshopdolly world" to be exact. she visits there often.

the triumph of getting the ONE item he wanted the most!

who knew pez could be so exciting?

by far alan's favorite toy and a bathtime favorite all around. the shark rig!

the first thing hadley noticed was her kitchen. she played with it for over a half an hour before she even LOOKED at anything else. i love the expression on her face here!

the "marble roller" which has filled many a saturday and sunday (and my dining room). a favorite dad/kid activity.

there are more updates below, mom, so keep scrolling. i never said they were recent updates, but at least i'm all caught up!

i promised to "ketchup"! (part deux)

on christmas eve, we thought it would be more fun (and feel more like christmas) to have some friends over for christmas eve dinner. the preparations took most of the day, but it turned out really nice! alan and our friend matt went to the church early and "borrowed" a large table and chairs. with kids, there were 14 of us!

here is the dining room....

kids were in the kitchen....not pictured is the "littlest table" for the two youngest ones. it was in the kitchen too. we could kind of keep an eye on them, but they definitely had their own party going on!
check out the food! yum!
after dinner, liz brought chimes -- a family christmas eve tradition -- and charts of christmas songs and plenty of spoons to chime with. it was a lot of fun and the timing on the songs was pretty funny, since we each had one (or two) chimes to be responsible for -- of course, the kids insisted on doing it themselves, making for some over-long pauses filled with whispered cues when their chime came up. this is liz, joshua, xander, and mason.

everyone concentrating: dan, josh, amanda, and joshua again. i think i did manage to get a photo of everyone, but i'll spare you...they are all more of the same. :)

I promised to "ketchup"! (part C)

hey! nothing like thanksgiving pictures on leap day! woot! we are blessed enough to have family nearby (nearby being virginia...and more recently, Pennsylvania) and were invited by the Gardners to spend Thansgiving with them at their fantastic beach house in Delaware. (if you're counting along at home, that's 4 states involved here. kinda awesome, eh?)

without further ado, i present the photo that best sums up our holiday weekend.

here is xander and collin doing what they do best. (being hungry, waiting to be fed, and generally just being little boys) lauren and i DID have a stroke of genius and managed to keep them busy making about 16 place cards. they drew pictures and actually wrote everyone's name. it was sneaky on our parts because not only did it keep them occupied for the better part of an hour -- they were also learning, but don't tell them that.

the "little kids" had their very own table and were pretty pleased with themselves. they took their places a bit too soon and were beginning to get restless by the time we took this photo. despite the look on hadley's face, i think it was mitchy that fell asleep at the table during dinner.

the table, laid out for the feast. and what a feast it was! i have to say, we all teamed up to make a mean thanksgiving dinner and practically eliminated the need to cook for the rest of the weekend due to copious leftovers. unfortunately, these are all the photos i got, because my camera batteries died shortly thereafter. i realized later on the drive home that i could have used 2 AAs or even swiped some of the recharable AAs from my kid's leapsters. oh well.

the highlight of the weekend was lauren's "devils on horseback" -- alan and i still laugh about the name -- but boy, were they delish! i won't divulge the secret, but let's just say it involves scallops and bacon. yum!

sweet baby addi

as usual, sis beat me to this, but i was planning to do it anyway.

today would be addison's 3rd birthday and i'm sure she would be ready to princess it up with the other girls. we love you and miss you addi. you will always have a special place in our hearts. we will not forget you! thank-you for being a fighter and waiting for us to meet you. you really are the tiniest, sweetest princess i have ever laid eyes on. we are watching out for your mommy and daddy and your crazy brother asher. thank-you for blessing our lives and for touching our hearts forever.