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.

Christmas is here!

Christmas morning was here and Will was up at his usual time (6:30 AM). So we quickly got the video camera in place to capture Will's reaction as he came down the stairs. Malissa carried him downstairs as I watched from the family room. As he came down, the first present he saw was the train set. He quickly burst into an emphatic "WHOOOOOOAAAAAAA" and ran down to play with the train set. We were so excited he liked it, but soon found out that nothing else mattered to him after that. We tried to pull him over to the Christmas tree to open more gifts, but he had no interest. All he wanted to do was play with the train set. Who could blame him, it looked fun. After about 30 minutes of playing with the train set, we were able to convince him to open more gifts (only by telling him that he might have more trains to open). So we finally got all of the gifts unwrapped, but Will soon went back to playing with the train which continued to do most of the day. Christmas 2008 was wonderful as usual and we were sad to see it come to an end. Here are a few pictures from throughout the day (including a few with uncle Andrew who came over for lunch).

Christmas Eve

For Christmas eve this year, we went to Josh's parents to celebrate with his parents and Brian, Max, Sarah. Everyone had a wonderful time and it was good to have the family together. As usual, Rixena made lots of delicious food for everyone to snack on throughout the day. Max and Will were both showered by gifts from Grandma, Papaw, Brian and Sarah, so it was fun to watch them open all of the gifts. Seriously, these kids made off with more gifts than they could ever imagine. By the end of the day, it was hard to determine which gifts were to go home with Max or Will. All in all, everyone had a wonderful time and were exhausted. Here are some pics from the day.









On the way home, we told Will he had to put out cookies and milk for Santa and then had to go to sleep before the Santa would come. So as soon as we got home, he helped mommy put out the cookies, milk and carrot for Rudolph and quickly went off to bed. He was exhausted from the day, so he was quick to hop into bed. Will had asked Santa for a train set, so we'd have to wait until morning to see if Santa brought one.

Run, Run Rudolph

Will is getting really excited about Christmas this year. He received lots of presents from relatives, but doesn't like that he has to wait until Christmas to open them. For now, he just lies down in front of the presents with his hands on chin staring at them. He has also been keeping a close watch on them under the tree and notices when new presents are added. When a new present is added, he gets really excited and thinks it time to open presents so we have to explain over and over again that he has to wait until Christmas. This year will be the first one where Will actually knows what is going on and is anxiously awaiting Christmas, so we're really looking forward to it. Trains are his favorite thing in the world right now, so I have a feeling that Santa will bring him one this year, but we'll have to wait and see:)

For most of our car rides these days, we've been listening to Christmas music to get us in the holiday mood. Will seems to enjoy it, but really seems to like the rockin' Christmas songs. Just like daddy, he's a big fan of Chuck Berry. Here's a video of Will jamming to Chuck Berry's "Run, Run Rudolph" in the car. Unfortunately, he inherited his Daddy's rhythm and dance moves!