Happy 3rd Birthday Popsicle!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our sweet, happy, funny, adorable and loving little girl, Miss Poppy! Time sure does go by way too fast, and it honestly makes me sad to look at old(ish) pictures of her and realize that we will never be able to return to that particular time in her life. I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions this year (probably because my main goal at that time was to just deal with being pregnant and looking ahead to a new adjustment), but if I could make one, it would be to try and remember to slow down, enjoy my kids in the here and now, and enjoy the ages and stages they're in.
As a side note, I'd like to add that the song accompanying this video, "Shake it Out" by Florence + the Machine, was chosen simply because Poppy likes it and enjoys singing along. It's a pretty awesome song, so please enjoy!

Our little guy

Here he is – Finley Paul Leggett made his arrival by scheduled c-section at 9.38am on Saturday January 28th at 9.38am.  He weighed 9lbs 1oz and was 20 inches.  He looks just like his sister did at this point.

Now I realize that I am biased but he is the cutest, loveliest little baby.  He is such a good little guy and Poppy could not be happier to be a big sister (see above for her huge, giddy smile – she also picked out the teddy for him and named him Bobo).  Anna is doing really well and seems to be recovering fast from the c-section.  We are hoping to go home tomorrow (the 31st) so fingers crossed for that.  Poppy has done really well and, so far hasn’t been overly jealous.  She has enjoyed hanging out with Nannie Sue and Grandma, as well as a trip to the DI with Daddy, where she was allowed to pick out anything (she chose a rather unfortunate looking giraffe).

Finley is healthy and we feel so blessed to have him.  It has, once again, been quite the journey  to get our little guy here and it was all worth it.  We are so lucky to have such wonderful little people in our lives, they are so sweet and bring us so much joy and happiness.

Anna is such a trooper, I am so proud of her.  She is a superstar and I love her. 

Here are the first pictures of little Finley and I’m sure many more will follow soon.

Here I am looking as though I am in a nuclear blast zone.

Mummy, Daddy, Finley and Dr. Loewen (the awesome doctor who delivered him).

Poppy meeting her baby brother for the first time, she was a little nervous of all of the tubes and wires connected to Mummy.

Holding Finley, helped by Grandma and Grandpa VanDenBerghe.

Finley and Nannie Sue.

Poppy got her own ‘baby brother’ as a special present when she came to the hospital – she has been taking extra special care of him ever since.

The little sign actually reads ‘it’s a boy’ although it was partially covered up (which I didn’t notice until I took the picture) and looks as though it says ‘it’s a VanDenBerghe’.

Daddy and his little guy.

Isn’t he the cutest

Christmas 2011

Don’t worry – baby pictures will be posted very soon.  However we have a bunch of cute pictures to post from Christmas of last year.  We had a lovely, relaxing time at home.  Santa certainly spoiled each of us and we just had a nice time hanging out together.  Here are some pictures of the highlights.

We took a trip to Temple Square to see the lights (which Poppy LOVED – she spent most of December saying ‘wow’ and ‘oh’ about all of the Christmas lights that were eveywhere).

Poppy has also begun to enjoy dressing up – particularly as a princess.  Here is he most recent princess look.

On Christmas Eve we had everyone over for a little VanDenBerghe Family Nativity.  Poppy was Mary and was excited dress up and have fun.  Grandma made costumes for everyone (some stayed on longer than others) and we finished the evening with hot chocolate.

Cullen was a Shepherd and Maia was an Angel.

Here’s the whole gang, I’m not 100% certain as to who was what as but they sure did look very cute.

Gaby decided to add a new character to the traditional nativity story, although I am not sure who she is meant to be!

Poppy thinking long and hard about what mischief to get up to next.

After the fun was had Poppy headed to her favorite place – the tubby.  She loves to play and splash.

Next morning was Christmas Morning and Father Christmas sure didn’t disappoint – this is just Poppy’s haul!

Happy, happy little girl.

Poppy modeling some of her new toys (above)

Good job she looks so cute in Mummy’s glasses, as chances are she’ll have a pair of her own soon enough.

Poppy really, really loves Georgie.  Most of the time Georgie does not care for her, but Christmas Day was not one of those days (unless Poppy had food residue around her mouth).