Joshua Graham Menlove

Well with much anticipation.....here he is! Born Friday, March 7, 2008 at 7:45 PM. 6 lbs 10 oz.

Mom and baby are resting in the hospital and doing very well.

More pictures to come when mom gets home!

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Ready or Not...

Well, today I was "checked" at my doctor's appointment and I'm 3 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. So, basically the baby is on his way! We are just waiting for contractions to start. I have not taken many pictures of this pregnancy because of all the drama that has happened. I think the last picture that was taken was at Christmas. Tonight Ryan was invited to a Hockey game, and yes he went. I am a nice wife, so anyone is welcome to remind him of that! But as I was sitting on the couch, hair pulled back, jammies on, I thought what if the baby comes tonight and I don't get a picture? So, husbandless, I turned to my 4 year old and 2 year old to get some last minute pictures! Here is Zachy's attempt! Poor kid, I never realized that is what he sees at his eye level!
Here is Allison's first attempt. I actually prefer this one because you can't see my face!
Here is the only picture taken that gives the "full" effect. Not too bad for a four year old! If the baby hangs in there a little longer, I may take a more flattering picture. But this will have to do for now! We'll keep you all posted!

My Little Chefs

Yesterday we went to story time at the library. Library time consist of a couple of stories being read, singing a song, and making a craft, all of which are part of a theme for that day. The craft usually gets hung up on the fridge for a day, or thrown in the trash (when the kids aren't looking, of course.) But yesterday the craft was making chefs hats to coordinated with the books that were read about cooking. Allison and Zachary LOVED making and wearing them! They are just made out of tissue paper and a band of heavy construction paper. I thought they looked so cute. They wore them for half of the afternoon. After I took the first picture, Allison insisted on having "cooking tools" in the picture to show that they were really chefs. Notice the whisk and wooden spoon!
Happy Cooking!!

Nesting

When I was pregnant with Allison I had the room ready two months before she was even born. Funny how things change...Now I have two weeks until my due date and I just got the room put together for this baby to come. My friend Tonya, who live just up the street, gave us this cute bedding for the new baby. It was her son's bedding and he is now four, same age as Allison. Thanks Tonya for holding onto it, I love it! We decided to have all three kids in one room for now. Allison will start kindergarten in the fall, so the plan this summer is to let her have her own room and move the boys into the other room. But for now they will all share. Here is what three kids in one room looks like! The pictures are in a clockwise motion as you enter the room.
Allison's bed

Baby's crib and Zachy's toddler bed.
Dresser and changing table. I am lucky to have a decent size room to fit everything. I finally feel organized and ready for this baby to come. We are all getting excited over here. I'll keep everyone posted! I have had a few request of a post on the "belly," so maybe in the next day or two I will be brave enough to post one!

I LoveYou!

With Emily being the "queen blogger" of the family, I noticed that she has already changed her template for Valentine's day. I figured I'd better get to it! So, as Valentine's Day approaches, I know it goes without saying, but I love my sweet family so much. When this new baby comes we will update our family picture, but for now this one from last year will have to do. I feel very blessed to be where I'm at during this point in my life. I love you!

Random Pictures

I was looking at my pictures taken this past month and came across a few random ones I thought I'd share. As I was looking at these pictures, I kept wondering what I did before I had kids. Ryan and I were married five years before Allison came along. I know I went to school and worked, but how boring! They have brought so much joy and excitement into our lives that I really can't remember life without them. A few weeks ago, Zachary fell as he was running down the isle at Lowe's and chipped his front tooth. This is not a very good picture but it's the only one I took. Ryan already calls him "Buck tooth Billy" because his teeth stick out from sucking his thumb so much. Now it has been changed to "Buck-Chip Billy!"
Here is my crazy daughter riding her scooter to go take a bath. As I have posted before, she is totally obsessed with that darn scooter. She has never been attached to a blanket, doll, stuffed animal, her mother....nothing! But, at four years old, I can say she is attached to a scooter. The thing never leaves her side. She asks me to "keep an eye on it" while she is at preschool. The other day she decided to attach balloons to the side of it and ride it to the bathroom to take her bath. She definitely keeps us on our toes, but I wouldn't have her any other way.
Then there are the two of them together. Their personalities are so different, but they can't get enough of each other. A couple of weeks ago they wanted to have a slumber party at Grandma's house but grandma had to work the next day, so that didn't work out. Allison said, "that's okay Zachy can just sleep in my bed." They had never done that before, but I thought, why not? So for about six hours they had a "slumber party" until Zachy came into our room and wanted "own bed."

Mom, It's Snowing!

A little after 5 this morning Ryan and I woke up to hail beating down on our house. I thought for sure the kids were going to wake up because it was so loud, but they didn't. When they woke up around 7, Ryan told Allison to look outside. She ran to me so excited and said, "Mom its snowing like in Utah!" I finally decided to take a picture around 8 and surprisingly the "snow" hadn't melted. The cars were covered and so were all the roofs in our neighborhood. To a four year old eye, it really looked like it was snowing!

Of course she had to see what it tasted like!