Dillon's First Christmas

This holiday season was a special one this year with a new addition to our family. Dillon enjoyed his first Christmas(as much as we could tell!) with family in Durham and in Burnsville. His grandmas and aunts and uncles really know how to spoil a grandbaby!!! Christmas eve was spent at my Mother in Law's. We had the traditional Norwegian dinner, which was tasty as ever this year. Next year, Dillon will get to drool over dinner with his cousin by his side! We played some fun games, one before dinner and one after. The first one was a big hit...it consisted of everyone recieving a funny santa hat that we all wore during dinner. We took a group shot with all the hats but not on my camera. I will have to post that later. The other game is a family game from Evan's brother in law's family. This game consists of taking a gift, naming it and hiding it so no one can steal it from you...but it gets stolen anyways, especially the one you really want, haha. It gets pretty crazy, trust me. Especially when you open your gift and see what it is....haha. Christmas day, we woke up and drove to the mountains(in too much traffic for Christmas day, we thought). We stopped once to feed Dillon the the way there, but made it back home without having to stop. Not too bad of a drive with a 4 week old. Dillon met his uncle(my brother), great grandma, great grandpa, great uncles and great aunts and cousins for the first time. We had fun opening presents and eating Christmas dinner and Christmas lunch. My parent's house is almost done, which is exciting! Its been a long time coming. The next time we go to visit, they should be all moved in, sitting on their deck watching the sunrise over the mountains.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Birth Announcement

Our Holiday Bundle of Joy

So, it has been a while since I updated the blog. A LOT has happened. I will sum up the past 3 weeks with pictures and captions....here it goes.....

If you did not know, I had a baby, 11 days overdue. Pitocin, epidural that didn't work at the end, lots of pushing, vaccum, blah blah blah. Labor was not fun but the end result was so worth it!!!!!!

Dillon Thomas Leekley....I love him so much!

Evan is such a great dad, he was a natural from the start! :)

Came home on Thanksgiving day, had a lot to be thankful for this year...a healthy pregnancy and baby boy, great family who have loved welcoming Dillon as much as we did and all their love and support. Everyone came to our house for dinner the day after. Didn't do a thing and it was nice! Good food, Dillon met his cousin, everyone cleaned up for us and we called it a night.

He does a lot of this....

and not a whole lot of this....

First walk in his stroller

First football game with daddy...go Panthers!

Has his daddy's squint lines already between his eyes

Made a bunch of yummy cookies with the fam, ate a pretty good number of them. Oatmeal chocolate chip, sugar cookies and peppernuts(a traditional cookie made every year at Christmas time...Evan usually eats them all in one day)

Jenna came to visit! He loves his godmommy :)

Went to a holiday party at Evan's cousin's house...lots of good food!! The dads with thier babies

Happy AFTER his first bath in his tub.

Had everyone over for my birthday. PF Changs for dinner and some awesome gifts! Dillon was even extra good for mommy on her birthday(during the day, haha).

Whew! That took forever! The past 3 weeks have been amazing as well as a learning experience of a lifetime. I love every minute of being a mom to this sweet baby boy. He is such a joy in our lives!!

The good things....

about being overdue(so I don't think about the not so good things):

~Starting to loose weight before he comes out...I lost 2 pounds in 4 days last week.

~Having my mom here for a week before he gets here with homemade meals each night and the freezer already stocked.

~Sleeping in for days in a row without worrying about what time it is.

~Having time to do whatever I feel like doing...and a lot of times, that's nothing.

~Speeding things up in line at the store because I'm not lying when I tell them "Hurry up, Im in labor".

~Might be going to see New Moon, which I didn't think I would get to see until it's out on DVD.

haha....

Its Been a Year!

One year ago, I could not wait to marry this man.....
...Now, that man will not only be a wonderful husband but a wonderful father!!! I love you sweetheart!!

Comments from the Peanut Gallery

I have heard some pretty funny and interesting comments lately from people around town when they see my big belly coming. Here are just a few from the past couple weeks.....

"Ohhh my...giiiiiirl all I saw was your belly coming around the corner...." -Daycare worker during a therapy visit

"You look like you are about to pop. Do you want a reeses or snickers bar?"- lady at Walgreens checkout

"When are you due?" "What are you having?" "What is his name?".....- lady at TJMaxx checkout who wanted to play 20 questions or something

"Oh my gosh, when are you due??" "Oh, thats not far at all, I hope you are ready!"- nice lady at Fresh Market

"I hope you are staying away from all those nasty people with the swine flu!!"- concerned lady at Food Lion

All true and I had a good laugh hearing them all...I love how strangers see a baby belly and just can't contain their comments, haha!

Showered with Love

Diaper cake made by Nicole

Last weekend, my family and friends came together to welcome baby Dillon with a beautiful baby shower. My college roommate and sister in law worked so hard on putting together such a great shower. I loved all the little details like the decorations, advice cards, frame to sign, games and of course....the food!! The food was so good!!

cousin, aunt, me, grandma, mother and cousin

the hostesses with preggers

Baby Dillon received some awesome and much needed gifts. I am so grateful to have such thoughtful family and friends who love this baby so much already!! Baby Dillon is going to really enjoy his handmade gifts from his MiMi and MorMor(grandmas) who put lots of love into knitting a blanket and some sweaters!

My friends came over after the shower and helped put away all his new stuff and put the pack n play together(which was kinda tricky). Even though I was pooped and not feeling well all weekend, I had such a wonderful time at the shower. :)

**I have to post a picture of his closet now that I finally have it all organized(I think I rearranged it about five or six times, along with the dresser drawers). I'm sure that won't be the last of the organizing but everything has its place for now, so it works! Evan doesn't even bother putting things away because he knows I will just move everything around in a few days. haha.

Updated Belly Pic

30 weeks....the countdown has begun!!!

Coming Soon...

The other day, I went to Michael's for some craft things and saw a big banner for a new store coming soon....Buy Buy Baby. I checked out the webiste and it is pretty much like a Babies R Us but with some different and more high end items(at least on the website). Sounds like a fun place to have close to us instead of going to Babies R Us all the time. Plus, Durham doesn't really have a lot of "baby stores" like Raleigh does. Can't wait to check it out!

What We've Been Up To

Well, baby Dillon's nursery is coming along nicely, we've been putting some more finishing touches on the walls like his monogram and bubbles all over the room! I love how it all turned out. I highly recommend vinyl wall decals....they are so easy!Monogram

Circles on one wall and Evan putting the light switch covers on, which we both painted

More circles

Both are from Etsy, which is one of my new favorite websites to find handmade products for a good price. Its also a good place to "steal" ideas of new crafts to try!

We celebrated my sister-in-law's birthday over the weekend at Kanki Japanese Steakhouse(yum, Dillon was doing flips). Happy Birthday, Meg!

Birthday girl with her beautiful family

Brent and Mel

Not so great picture, but the only recent one of us

We have been taking it easy here, trying to stay cool is one of my main goals.....it has been so hot lately and I can't seen to cool off ever! I CANT WAIT until the fall for many reasons. :)

We don't have many plans before the baby comes, just the beach one weekend in August, my baby shower in September and an anniversary get-away in October....and enjoying our time as just the two of us for the last few months!

Still have the craft bug

I am having way too much fun making little things for the babies......

A girly bib for Stella and a polka dot burp cloth for Dillon. Both have terry cloth on the back and are finished off with a zig zag stitch. Hmm, what should I do next??