Welcome Brooklyn Kelly Wheeler!

Brooklyn Kelly Wheeler came into the world September 26th, 2009 at 8:38 in the morning. She came in fiesty and alert and ready to eat. She weighed 5 lbs. 15 oz. and measured 19". Both Brooklyn and Mara are doing extremely well, and Ella and Josh are more excited than ever.

Mara went into labor last night around 7:00 pm. She was extremely hot and had the AC blasted on the lowest possible temperature. The rest of us tried to stay warm even poor little Art.

Here are some pictures of Brooklyn's first few hours, in which she even got to meet "Uncle" Craig already. She also got to spend time with Mimi, Papa, Nina, Ella, Daddy and of course Mommy.

The most excited person out of everyone is Ella. She doesn't understand why we can't bring Brooklyn home yet. But she made us promise that as soon as we get home that we would let her and Brooklyn play together.

We will update everyone very soon with more information and pictures.

Sweet and Sassy Salon

A new kids salon opened by us that is so cute!! Ella got her hair cut there the other day and loved it. They do birthday parties with runway shows, mani/pedi, and then the girls get to take a ride in a hot pink limo around town!! How fun is that?!

First Day of School!

Today was Ella's first day back to school:) She is going to a new preschool this year so I was a little hesitant dropping her off but she walked right in with her teacher and sat down with some new friends (as I secretly RAN out of the room before she saw me)! I couldn't wait to pick her up to hear how her day was. When I got there she was little miss jabber mouth and told me EVERYTHING in about one breath! She was so excited! I was horrible about taking pictures because we were running SO late and to be totally honest, I completely forgot today was her first day! We have been talking about it all summer and then with the busy holiday weekend, I didn't even think about it until I was up at 3:00 in the morning and remembered! Here are a couple shots before we walked out the door...she is in love with her new backpack:)

Aquarium

We went to the aquarium last week for dinner and walked around. That was the first time we had ever been there at night and it was AWESOME! The lighting was really cool and you could see so much more. Plus there weren't as many people there so it felt like we were the only ones walking through. Our aquarium has tigers in it...really random but great:) Ella picked out a couple of baby stuffed animal tigers. She said one was hers and the other one she wanted to bring to the hospital for her baby sister:) We didn't take very many pictures but here are a couple.

Baby--34 Weeks

I had my last ultrasound with the high risk doctor this morning and everything looks great! I am now turned over to my regular doctor for the rest of the pregnancy. The baby is still measuring a little bigger than her due date so I am scheduled to be induced October 1st! We are SOO excited! I think the next 5 weeks are going to be the longest wait ever! She is weighing in at 5lbs 4oz right now which seems HUGE to us compared to what Ella was:)

I'm sorry I haven't posted any prego picks for those of you who keep asking for them! I thought I'd throw one in since I'm almost done!! I look thrilled in the picture, I know...I was up all night with heart burn, finally fell asleep just in time for my alarm to go off to get in the shower, etc.

This picture of the baby is the ONLY picture we have gotten of her face since I was 12 weeks along. She has been face down with her hands covering her face ever since. Her arm is still resting on her forehead but at least you can see her eye, nose and lips on the left:)

Ballet Class

Ella's ballet class FINALLY started! She has been waiting and asking and waiting and asking:) The girls were all the cutest things ever!

Ballet

We just signed Ella up for ballet class!!! We have been waiting a very long time (probably since we found out she was a girl) to sign her up:) She will be taking classes at a studio that I danced at when I was younger. We are very close with the owner and VERY excited to know that she will be Ella's teacher!!! She let Ella try on all kinds of dance wear to find the perfect outfit. It was really cute...Ella got all dressed up, went in front of the studio mirrors and whispered, "Mommy, I look like a ballerina!" Her first class isn't for a couple more weeks so of course she asks us everyday if it's time yet:)

Train to Royal Gorge

This was the train at Frontier Town that took us for a ride down to the Royal Gorge. The owners have two Goldens that ride the train every morning. They were VERY excited to have Simba taking a ride that afternoon:)

Buckskin Joe's Frontier Town

We took Ella and Simba to the Royal Gorge this weekend. There was a little town kid/dog friendly called Buckskin Joe's Frontier Town. It is a real town from the 1800's that was really cool! You can walk through the old houses and see all of the bars/bedrooms/dentist/etc. They had a gun fight show, a magic shop and panning for gold. The donkey you see was just hanging out, walking around town. Ella didn't see him at first so we told her to keep running....as soon as she was right next to him she stopped dead in her tracks and ran the other way:) It was too funny! Then we went on a horse trolley ride and they told ghost stories and said there are 20 some spirits that are still in town! Creepy! After walking around town, we took a ride on the Frontier train that goes to the Royal Gorge.