It's a...

So the waiting is finally over and on Christmas Eve, after Santa time, Erin and I opened the card we had set on the tree.  After over a month of anticipation and asking each other "Now what do you think it is" we could answer the question.

We opened the card to find the sonogram picture with the words "labia" and "female' and hand written inside the card was "I'm a GIRL!"  The technician (who did all of this for us) went the extra step of emphasis by dotting the "i" with a heart, she also put one at the bottom of the exclamation point.  

Erin thought of all the extra toys and clothes we would now be acquiring with a little princess joining the crew.  I was just happy to know and be able to start putting an identity to the bump on Erin's belly.

We will call her Grace, but are having trouble landing on a middle name.  

We are both very excited and Erin's mom has already hit us with a pile of Pink clothes, to which I commented "It has begun", which it has.

Next up is figuring where to put everyone and to start completely reconfiguring the house.  We will wait until after I am back from the Super Bowl in February to tackle that project.

 

The long overdue update

So I have delayed in posting anything on the blog while we made sure word got around about our new arrival.  At least that is what I am telling myself.  If I say I slacked on keeping this up to date then I will have proven my critics correct.

So here is a long overdue post to keep the critics at bay.

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE AND THE ADVENTURES OF THE CALIFORNIA FIRES

So last Saturday I took the boys to Perris, California (about 60 miles east of just past and a bit south of Riverside) to see Thomas the Tank Engine.  PJ and I have gone the past two years but this was the first time for Conor.

The drive is around a hour and a half to the train museum, The Orange Empire Railway Museum (sounds nicer then it is)

They have all kinds of activities for the kids throughout the area.  Miniature railroad exhibits (funny old guys sitting around "managing" their train sets), all the toy Thomas tracks and trains ever ,made (in one big tent, the greatest "Can we get this?" hands on exhibit ever), bounce houses, old trains, a trolly ride, balloons, tattoos...you get the picture.  

And the highlight, which is why you pay your money to get into this place, is a ride on Thomas.  They hook up every old passenger car they have to a full size Thomas Engine and you go up and back on the track that runs along the property (would be nice if it went in some sort of round trip, instead of the forward for a mile, backwards for a mile trip it takes).  But the boys don't care.

Finally, there is a place in front of the train to take a picture with the happy blue engine while they load up the next round of passengers.

Conor screamed "THOMAS" at the top of his lungs when he saw the big engine.  He was so excited.  PJ & I both got a kick out of his joy for the whole experience.

I had the closing shift at Disneyland this night so we had to hit the road home around noon.  We left our house around 7:30am so we were 3 plus hours there which is just enough to do everything.  So we said "good-bye" to Thomas and headed home on the the happy 91 freeway.

As we were on the big interchange putting us onto the 91 I could see a large plume of smoke in the distance.

Erin had said on the phone that is was smokey and ash was falling on the house.  We had blue skies all morning so it was surprising to hear this news.  As we made our way up the 91 it was becoming clear that this fire was not as far north as I thought it was but actually right in our path.  

We got to Corona (town just west of Riverside and the last area before you go through the canyon to get to Orange county)and the smoke was now directly in front of us as we came to a complete stop on the freeway. 

 As I talked to Erin on the phone and listened to the news channels on the radio I learned that the freeway in front of us was completely closed as the fire had jumped the freeway in Yorba Linda.  Also that another fire had broke out in the Brea Canyon (a north/south passage way into the Orange county area and shut down that pass.  Routes to get the boys home were growing slimmer by the minute.

I jumped off the freeway and backtracked to the 15, which was really the only option.  With some very timely advise from the radio station, I ended up taking a southern route to get home (down the 15 freeway to the 74 which takes you over the hills and dumps you out in San Juan Capistrano -almost half way to San Diego- up the 5 freeway to the 405 to home) .  With the stop and detour it took us a little better then 4 hours to get around the fires and home.

The boys were great and we had a fun adventure together, one that I am not soon to forget.

3 it's the Magic number

Yes, Kelly baby number 3 is on the way to join our family.  And yes, Erin and I realize we will be outnumbered.

So the details are that we are 13 weeks along and everything is looking good.  Our due date is April, 11 2009, but with having to go C-section we will have a scheduled date in a few months.

We are excited to share the news with all of our friends and family around the country.  We will be a very 21st century family and keep this blog updated on all the details of the pregnancy.  So check back for new news.

We had our first sonogram a few weeks ago to see our little one.  I've added the pictures to this post but know it's early and hard to know what you are looking at in the image.  We saw a very strong heartbeat and all 4 chambers of the heart.  We saw the baby move its arms and put its hands to its mouth.  We may have a thumb sucker again.

So here is the first image of K3.  The bigger round blob to the left is the head and he/she is facing down.  This is a profile view.  The oval shaped blob to the right is the body.  

Here is a closer look.  Still hard to see but the brighter white lines on the head are the jaw bone.  The small blob below it is its hand.  When you see it live as the baby moves and the images move, it really is easy to see.  The blurry still image just doesn't do it justice.

 

Erin is doing well, the evening sickness (her timing of traditional morning sickness) has been light and is now pretty much gone away.  Since this is number 3, she is starting to show a little bit, it's cute.

 

We told the boys last night and PJ is very excited.  He actually asked us a few weeks ago for a new baby sister so his wish came true, at least the baby part.  6 more weeks until we will know if he's getting a sister.He wants to call her Ariel, we told him we would have to talk about that name.

Erin thinks it's a girl and I am fine waiting until we see in a few months.

Well, that is all the newest excitement here in the Kelly house.  

Getting started

As we head into the stretch run of 2008 I figured it would be time to start a blog.  Not just because everyone is doing it, but rather to keep the family in tune into what we are doing and how fast the boys are growing.

I'm sure Erin will think it's just another excuse to play on the computer to write and post photos.  I see it as a one stop for getting info out to everyone.  Facebook is nice but is a little too large to get personal on topics like we can here.  Everyone on Facebook doesn't need to know all of our family info.

So I will start with a few recent photos of the boys so I can learn how to do this.

This is PJ at the Avila Farm near Pismo Beach.  

Conor and his buddy Woody watching either Cars or Toy Story

Our big boy Conor on summer vacation at the beach house in Oceano

For PJ's 4th birthday he went to his first movie in a theater.  We went BIG taking him to the El Capitan in Hollywood to see Wall *E .   Disney owns the theater and not only shows the movies in an amazing setting but also starts the show with a 15 minute stage show featuring all of the Disney characters.  PJ loved it.

Conor won't wear a hat of his own but, thinks it funny to run around in one of mine for a little while.

Uhmmm....Conor the juice boxes are not in that cooler.  From the Walker Lee block party in August.

PJ building sand castles on the beach in Oceano.