Luke Meets His Little Brother

here is a video of Luke meeting his little bro :)

Our new baby

We have a new baby! He was born this evening, December 18th, at 7:45 PM. He weighs 8 pounds, twelve ounces and is 22 inches in length. We're all well and thank you for your prayers and thoughts.

40 Weeks & Round One

This picture was taken at 40 weeks while I was in the hospital with an attempted induction. The reason for the induction is a very LONG story and something I may blog about in the future, but for now it will suffice to say that it simply didn't work. For the record, I was incredibly skeptical that it would. I spent the night in the hospital with cervadil... nothing. Then an entire day on pitocin... nada. The pit got as high as safely possible, but just wasn't making the contractions long enough or strong enough. I left the hospital after 24 hours dilated to, ummm, maybe a 2. Maybe. So now we wait... and wait and wait, I guess. Since Kate was 9 days past and Luke 11, I suppose it's a bit early still. I head to the midwife tomorrow to see how everything looks and will post more info if I have some. For the record, please don't suggest that I just go eat something spicy or go for a long walk. If a 24 hour induction that works for almost everybody failed for me, I have no faith in some spicy burrito -though it does sound pretty good. :)

We'll keep you posted here (and on fb of course) when things finally get moving again.

Tune in for Updates

When I have a moment, I'll update this blog.

November In Pictures

It's 4:14am and I am awake... Can't sleep much these days. I guess it's just part of the getting ready for the baby... So, I posted the November pictures on my Flickr account . Just click on that link OR click on the Flickr photostream to the right of this post.

As you can see, it was a fairly busy month. We bought a new car, went to the Circus (a first for the kids and Mark) and had Luke's 3rd birthday party. We really missed family over Thanksgiving and for about 3 hours we had this crazy idea to get in the car and drive as far North as possible. We packed up everything in about an hour and got on the freeway and about an hour into the trip we realized that we weren't actually going to get that far. Traffic was very stop and go... So, we turned around and were a little bummed. BUT, it was a thrilling few hours while it lasted... You know, we live really, REALLY far south. Practically Cuba. I think it takes almost 7 hours just to drive out of this state. Ahhh, Florida! :)

Kate as a "Pilgram"

Kate's Preschool is at a senior center. The kids have their own room of course, but a big part of the curriculum is integrated intergenerational activities. Often, on any given Wednesday, you might find them playing bingo with the seniors, or in the lunch hall dancing with them or a "grandma" might come and read to their class. I think it's a really cool part of the set-up. For Thanksgiving, her class dressed up as pilgrims and American Indians and sang to the Seniors. Afterwards, they all had a feast! :)

Avoiding an Unnecessary C-section In the State of Florida....

Is not the easiest thing to do.

These stats are completely scary and completely ridiculous. The two hospitals at which I could deliver are 42.7% and 40.6%... totally frightening.

Happy 3rd Birthday Lukie Lou!!!

Making Room for Baby

We're having a third baby and though I think we've given little thought to the changes this means for our daily life (we've been so busy), we did finally decide that we should get a new (to us) car. Originally we thought we'd just shove them all in the back of the accord, but that was before the door broke on it. We decided against putting 3 kids in the back of a sedan that only has one door, so after about a month's worth of research, we got this baby:

I LOVE it! I love, love love it! And so do the kids and hubby for that matter. I love the room, the 8th seat capacity, the fact that I can now participate in car pools! It's great! I also love that we will be able to continue our road trip/ camping vacations without worrying about which kid has to ride on the roof. :)

36 Weeks!

Is that a beached whale?!!! Oh, no, it's only mom...at 36 weeks ;)

Photography courtesy Lukalicious :)

Hiking in Florida

It's different than California :) And though I'm partial to the mountains and rugged terrain of the west, it certainly has it's own beauty.

See more pictures on our photostream at Flickr. (Just click to the right of this post)

Halloween

Kate's Halloween Performance

Kate played the mummy. Here is a video of the performance :)

You Know You're Adjusting to Floridian Life When...

It's 78 degrees outside and your kids don't want to go swimming because it's "too cold!" :)

Happy Monday, Everyone!

Our First Gator Spotting!

Mornings With Luke

This morning Luke woke up and then promptly woke me up and said, "Good morning mom. You look beautiful today." He then went to wake up his dad and said to him, "Good morning dad. It's morning time. I am glad you are still here because I like to spend this time with you."

We are going to spend this lovely Saturday morning sweating at the pumpkin patch. That's right, it's mid -October and it's still a solid 85 degrees here in Boca Raton (this is down from 90 degrees yesterday. The humidity is only about 60%, however, which is a major plus since it's down from about 90%). I am mildly depressed about this fact. Friends say it will start to cool down by December... to the 70s (sigh)... No, this Fall we will not be enjoying sweet potato bisque and hot apple cider while the children jump in the leaves. But we are going to put our tank tops and shorts on and head to the pumpkin patch... Pictures to be posted soon!

31 weeks

With our first child, we dutifully took a belly picture every week beginning at some absurd week, like 11 or something. With our second, I think I still have quite a few belly pics, but definitely not every week and definitely not starting so early. Well, here is one of about 3 belly pics I have intentionally taken with our third... Our poor, already neglected third child. We don't have as many belly pictures to mark the pregnancy progress, but we do have a whole family so incredibly excited to meet you! We can't wait!

For the Feast of St. Francis on October 4th...

We had a breakfast dinner of pancakes made in the shapes of animals.

Mark caught and successfully released the second lizard that has attempted to dwell with us. Unfortunately, the first little guy wasn't as lucky.

And we said our (well, my) favorite prayer, which we will continue to pray for the month of October:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

Photos

Our new photo stream is located to the right of this post (it's labeled,"The Running of the Bullio") I will continuously add photos to that album and other albums, which you can check out by clicking on the link. For those of you who care about pictures (grandmas & grandpas, aunts & uncles??? :), I hope you find this as easy to use as our old site at babyhomepages. Right now there are some new pictures from our trip at Siesta Key and our move. Enjoy!

Swimming!

We've been swimming a lot lately. So much, that one day, Kate just started swimming all by herself. We were on our trip across the country when she just suddenly started swimming. About 5 minutes beforehand, I thought to myself that it would probably be at least a year before she started swimming on her own because she didn't want to put her face in the water and she wasn't floating at all. Mark went up to the hotel room to get a few things; he came back 5 minutes later and Kate was swimming! Crazy, that kid. Here is a video of her swimming in our pool.

Not to be outdone by his sister, Luke has also made some giant strides in swimming these past few days. He is absolutely fearless. Here is a video of him.

Our New Place

A few of you have been asking what our new place is like. Well, we are still not completely moved in yet (note the lack of art on the wall), but here are a few pictures to give you a sense of what our new Floridian home is like.

The Kids' Room (As you can see, Kate thought it would be a good idea to put her own art on the wall... :)

Our Bathroom (& Me at 29 weeks :)

Mark in the Kitchen and an Unpacked Patio

The Kitchen & Patio

The Kids'/ Guest Bathroom

Our very undecorated Room :)

The Living Room

More of the Living Room

As you can see, it's a work in progress, but we're pretty happy with it so far. The pool is just across the parking lot and we swim almost every day. Oh, and of course, the dishwasher and washer and dryer are a dream!!!

Settling In

We are finally settling in to our new life in Boca Raton. It has been an incredible month and a half! Our coast to coast road trip was an absolute blast. You can see pictures here. I have to say, the kids did amazingly well. Of course, we did break down and buy a double screen car DVD player and it was a LIFESAVER! There were plenty of times it wasn't on though and the kids really did thoroughly enjoy much of the drive. Our main stops were Tucson, Carlsbad Caverns, San Antonio and New Orleans. All amazing places, none of which we had been to before! The last night on the road we drove from New Orleans to Siesta Key where Grandma and Grandpa Dunk were waiting for us (well, really they were sleeping and expecting us the next day, but we woke them up at 4am instead). We had a great time relaxing in the sun and hanging out with them before we had to head across the state to our new home.

Mark had to begin work on the 15th of August. We knew we wouldn't have our stuff from the movers yet and that Mark would have long days starting his new job and finishing his dissertation, so Grandma and Grandpa decided to come over and help us after their vacation in Siesta Key. They were so generous and we couldn't have done it without them! The day they left, Aunt Katie came to help. We were still without our stuff, so she had to rough it with us on air mattresses. She was quite the sport about the whole thing. Aunt Katie was here for the whole week and we had a great time exploring Boca. It was so nice to have a familiar face when everything around us seemed so unfamiliar. And, true to form, the day that our stuff arrived from California, Papa showed up just in time to help unpack! He was an unbelievable help and was so kind to pack us up in California and then meet us in Florida to unpack.

Over labor day, Mark traveled back to California where he successfully defended his dissertation, officially becoming Dr. Bullio! Or as his current students call him, Dr. B! We've spent the remainder of the month trying to unpack and settle in to our new normal. We still have plenty of boxes (mostly books ;) to unpack. We have been incredibly blessed to meet some wonderful people already! More pictures to come!

Goodbye Kidd Family! And Goodbye Verano!

We just said goodbye to this beautiful family and we are very bummed, to say the least. Hope and I became friends in the Fall of her first year here, six years ago. She was pregnant with Ethan at the time and I wanted to be pregnant. Being married to philosophers, we became fast friends. Our children have grown up together and been "besties" since they were born. Mark and I became the children's godparents when they came into the Church this past Easter. They really are a wonderful family and it's hard to imagine life without them so close. We will miss you dearly Kidd Family! Best wishes on your new journey!

It's also hard to imagine life without Verano. Mark and I have been here our entire married life. We have grown as a married couple here, had our children here and experienced the ups and downs of grad school life together. All seven of our married years have been here. I think I'm simply at a loss for words and have not quite processed the whole transition. I am truly grateful for this community and all the friends we have met here. I wish I could thank you all individually before we go and I will try. From sharing meals and children's birthday parties to being at at many of your children's births, our time in Verano has been incredibly blessed and rich and that is because of all of the incredibly wonderful people here. I hope each of you know how much and how deeply you touched our lives. Thank you for that!