Cousins!!!

Mama is so excited to get to make this post on belly blog! As you are cooking your first cousin (on Mama's side) is cooking away with Aunt Anne Marie. He or she will be here just a few short months after you this year (Aunt Anne Marie is on her way at 4 months) and we are all so excited!

While we were together on our California adventure we thought you two might like to have a little chat through our bellies!

 And kisses too :) What fun you are going to have together!!

The Adventure of a Lifetime for Baby Leonardo

If someone had asked me last year if I would be willing to scale a cliff at just a few days short of 7 months pregnant I would have answered without hesitation...NO!
But Mama and Baby Leonardo were not about to miss the beautiful wedding of Aunt Megan and new Uncle Daniel so the cliff it was!

Mama won't lie...I was VERY nervous but I talked with you the entire way down telling you all about the gorgeous scenery and sharing with you that you would soon get to meet your special Aunt Megan who would promise even more adventures to come (because she is just as exciting as her wedding day was turning out to be!).
Papa caught Mama looking back up at the cliff we had just come down...she held you nearly the whole way down AND back up too! Phew!!

I know you were happy to have some rest and even more so to be a part of Aunt Megan's special wedding because you were happily dancing around in there as Mama stood on the tidal rocks and cheered on Aunt Megan during her vows.

This was definitely fit for the baby scrapbook (and belly blog :))!! And will never be forgotten!
Great job my little climber!

Your first trip to Disneyland

Sweet baby Leonardo,
Big Brother Benjamin is anxious to share his love for Mickey with you as soon as you arrive! You had quite a first visit to Disneyland walking the entire park with Papa, Brother, Ga and Mimi. And Papa even talked your Mama in to riding on the carousel, the Casey Jr. Circus train ride, and the haunted mansion ride...anywhere to sit down felt fabulous :)

Trust me when I tell you that your Aunt Megan will make your first out of utero trip as memorable as she did for brother Benjamin...let's just say he won't let her surprise you with the "thunder door" :)

Keeping up with your brothers

Little one,
You already know by sound who is waiting to play with you when you "come out Mama's belly" as your big brother Benjamin so lovingly commands.

These two big brothers will keep you on your toes for years to come! And Mama has the sense already that you will have no problems keeping up :)

PS. Big brother Benjamin decided he was going to build your new room today. He is very safety conscientious...he would love an assistant with thumbs (Big Brother Stanford has not been helpful in the tool department!)

Baby Names

Some of you may remember the wonderful selection of names we had for our first little bundle of joy - "little bean" Baby Leo" and our most favorite and the one that stuck..."Sweet Pea"

Well, Baby Leonardo #2 has earned his or her own special selection of names while in Mama's belly.
We know you can hear us talking to you now (and are perhaps baffled by the long list of names that seems to grow with each day :)), but we'll share them here anyways just for the record:

"Little Enchilada"  (clearly your Papa's favorite and an example of his Southwestern connections :))
"Sweet Caroline" (this does not mean that Mama believes you are a girl....it started as a song because it reminded Mama of your birth state and it kind of stuck)
"Baby Baby"
"Sweet One"
"Little One"

The list will continue to grow until we get to meet you soon!

See what you have to look forward to?

Dear sweet Baby Leonardo,
This is only a forewarning....you will quickly discover the truth within moments of your arrival. Your Papa is madly in love with you and your brother Benjamin!

Your Mama is quite in awe of how devoted Papa is to being with his boy and she knows you will have the very same to look forward to as soon as you make your grand entrance in to this world. So prepare yourself....your brother may never have anticipated that his Papa would want to be with him so badly after work that he would strap him on his back to mow the lawn just so he could "be" with him while doing chores. You can only imagine the adventures that may be ahead :)

Papa AND Mama love you to pieces!

Rocking my Babies

There are moments in pregnancy (and of course after the baby is born!) when you feel so much happiness and pure joy that the true definition of those terms is actually tangible.
Baby Leonardo brings me that joy each and every time he or she does somersaults and handstands in Mama's uterus (trust me when I say that I am fairly certain that is exactly what is going on in there :)).
But I had an extra special moment that I had not anticipated...
While rocking my Benjamin before bed one night Baby Leonardo decided to reach out and give some love to big brother. For nearly 20 minutes my sweet baby in utero patted, bumped, rubbed, and maybe even tried to kick his or her big brother while he was comfortably snuggled up against my baby belly.
Benjamin obviously couldn't feel it (or perhaps chose to ignore it knowing there would be plenty of moments in the future when his brother or sister would simultaneously be demanding my attention :) but as the Mama I was moved to tears.
I am rocking my BABIES...together! How blessed and thankful I am for these beautiful creations in my life!