Ella's officially crawling!

Will's 3rd Birthday

Visit with Family

My cousin, Monica, was brave enough to travel with her two boys from CT to visit for a few days. Will and Patrick had so much fun playing together, although Will had a difficult time keeping up with Patrick...9 months make such a big difference. It was little busy with 4 kids under the age of 3 but we had a wonderful time!

New Arrival: Ella Claire

After many days of contractions, I finally had the "one" where I knew it was time to head to the hospital. On Sunday night, we called Mom to come over to stay with Will so we could go to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around midnight and I got an epidural about 2 hours later. That was a beautiful thing! We actually had time to take a quick cat nap! At about 6:00 a.m. I was 8 centimeters dilated and 100% effaced. I knew the baby could come at any minute but we had to wait for the doctor to get there around 7:00 a.m. The doctor ran into the room with soaking wet hair and I pushed 3 times and she was out (sunny side up).
We are so happy that are healthy baby girl is finally here! She made her entrance into the world on Monday, February 23rd @ 7:30 a.m. She weighed in at 6lbs. 4oz. and was 19 inches long. Her big brother is not quite sure about her yet but we think he'll warm up.


For more pictures of the new arrival, go to http://ellaclairetoombs.shutterfly.com/

Waiting for the arrival of our baby girl!

Well, the clock is ticking and the countdown is on! Hopefully within the next 9 days we will have a baby! I head back to the doctor tomorrow to schedule a possible induction in case I don't have the baby by the 25th. So I am hoping that this will be my last week of work.

Will is very interested in all the baby gear. Of course, he has to try everything out! He likes to squeeze his way into the baby's carseat! He also enjoys reading books in his little sister's room. We'll keep you posted on the status of the baby.

Snow Days!

Last week, we had over a foot of snow so naturally we had to take Will sledding. We bundled him up and headed out to the park around the corner. Will couldn't hardly walk through the snow because it was so deep so Josh pulled him most of the way. His facial expression was classic as Josh pushed him down the hill for the first time. He got a "white wash" to the face as he spun out at the bottom. He just laughed and was ready to go again.

Enjoying the holiday

The MLK Jr. holiday was a much needed day off for the Toombs family and an interesting one considering the political context. I (Josh) worked long hours the week leading up to and including the weekend, so the day provided additional family time for which we took full advantage. I have also started two more classes this past week, so my time will be spread thin over the next few months. We had a great day and spend most of it at the house just hanging with the fam.

Malissa decided to make chocolate chip cookies for which we were all thankful. This time, she asked Will to assist in the process. He always wants to lend a hand to help mommy with anything she is doing and it was fun to watch him as he was focused intently on making the chocolate chip cookies. He got a kick out of the mixer and only spilled a few chocolate chip morsals. He struggled to scoop up the dough, but Malissa was there to help him when needed. In the end, he did what anyone else would do in his situation; he ate the cookie dough off the spatula. Here are some pictures of Will in action.

After Will got a full belly, he decided he wanted to go play in the snow. And of course, daddy always gets volunteers to go with him. So we bundled Will up like Ralphie from the Christmas Story and we were off to play in the snow. He had his snow pants, coat, boots, hat and mittens (not shown) on for the event.


Once outside, we decided to try out his new sled that Santa got him this year. This is where I become a sled dog and get to pull him around until I'm ready to pass out. The saving grace was when I realized there was enough of a hill in the back yard for Will to sled down. He seemed to enjoy sledding and playing in the snow as I struggled to get him to go back inside. Finally, we lured him with food. Here are a few more pictures of Will (and me) playing in the snow.