some news....

baby ethan!!!

well, i'm an aunt! yay! ethan edward was born last wednesday via c-section after my poor sister was induced and had serious contractions all night!!! he was 7lbs5oz and 21 inches and he is just sooooo cute! he had the longest fingernails and is one of the hairiest little guys i've ever seen! i only heard him semi-cry once...maybe he'll be a non-crier?!

the kids are just getting over the "niffles" (as austin says)...all that time in the chic-fil-a play area finally caught up with us! the night before last caitlin was up every hour and then up for good at about 4:30am b/c she tries to breathe thru her nose and panics when she can't...ryan tried teaching her to breathe through her mouth, but no luck. fortunately she slept soundly last night and so did austin (and daddy and mommy!)!

last sunday we went to a party and they had "silly safaris" perform a show....with LIVE animals! austin and caitlin got to pet a skunk, a baby alligator, a bunny, a millipede, and a porcupine! then they were the special helpers for another animal...the man ("alligator aaron") called austin up to help him and immediately caitlin walked up too (and why not?!). austin was hysterical...he was sooooooooo excited that he kept hopping around. anyway, the animal they got to hold was a CORN SNAKE! they loved it...i thought they would freak but they were very good with it. they also got to see a vulture and a baby tortoise but they weren't allowed to touch those. then later in the night, a musician came to entertain the party goers...he just played the guitar and sang some mellow christian tunes, but to austin he was a ROCK STAR! austin was playing air guitar like a champ!!!! we ended up staying well past their bed time but it was a lot of fun for all of us!

this morning sophia (our neighbor's 4 yr old) came over. i will be watching her on wednesday mornings....the kids were soooooo excited! they all played nicely and it's so good for them to have a regular playmate too (well, besides each other!).

that's about it for now....saturday we are going to the circus and we are looking forward to uncle clint and sarah's visit in a couple of weeks! the kids are all pumped up b/c we said we'd go to the zoo with them.