Welcome Home, Patrick!

This is Patrick: This is Jack (when he was a few days old):

Did you see any similarities? ;)

Patrick got this cool shamrock hat from Jim's friend Tim.

We have another Cardinal fan in our house!

We brought Patrick home from the hospital yesterday, and he was finally able to meet his big brother Jack. This is Jack's first look at his little bro:

Patrick had a couple presents for Jack (wasn't that sweet of him?).

Jack is rocking his little brother in the car seat.

Jack got to hold Patrick for the first time. He kept giving him kisses and hugs. Cute, but not as gentle as we would like.

Today, Jim took Jack to a Halloween party. Jack got to wear his Superman costume for the first time. He didn't take it off the rest of the day.

Jack got to decorate a cookie, and eat it!

There was music and dancing. At first Jack just wanted to sit on Daddy's lap.

Later, our shy guy got up to dance a bit.

Look at Jack's cool elephant balloon! By the time he got home and I saw the elephant, all that was left was the trunk, eyes, and one ear. Now the only thing left is the eyes. I am sure those will be gone by morning.

Uncle Michael and Kathleen came over to see Patrick.

Jack was excited to hold Patrick again. His interest in holding the baby lasts about 20 seconds.

We have taught Jack just to kiss Patrick's forehead (not the lips as he was doing before).

If you want to view the pictures the photographer at the hospital took, go to www.bellababyphotography.com. Click on the middle picture to "View My Photos." The password is 1021patrickkelly.

Welcome Patrick James!

Patrick James Kelly was born at 7:39 a.m. on October 21st, 2009. He weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long. He has dark, gray-blue eyes and light, straw-colored (perhaps with a tint of red) hair. He is taking everything in stride and he is surrounded by lots of loving family and friends. He has not had a chance to meet his big brother Jack because, with the threat of the flu, Jack has not come into the hospital.

Pumpkinland

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day (unlike the past couple of cold weeks). Jim got home from work early, and we decided to take Jack to a pumpkin patch. We had a lot of fun. Jack liked everything there. It was hard to get him to move from one activity to the next, but when he did go to the next activity he liked it just as much as the previous one. The first thing we did was go down this fun slide. Jack wanted to "do it by Jack's self."

Next, Jack and Daddy were going to go through this completely dark tunnel. We didn't have a flashlight with us and the tunnels are long, so we opted for a shorter one instead. The short, kid's tunnel was much better for Jack and he could go all by himself.

Jack needs to be a little taller to ride this tractor by himself. He is tall enough to sit while Daddy pushes him, though.

This horse made of tires was not quite as fun as the real horse he got to ride a few weeks ago, but it put a smile on his face nonetheless.

Jack went through this small maze. Later the three of us went through a big maze of corn. We couldn't see over the stalks of corn, so it was exciting for all of us.

After climbing the spiderweb, there is a slide on the other side!

One of Jack's favorite things to do these days is pretend he is a digger. He makes his hand into a scoop and "digs" stuff like a digger does. He enjoyed digging the hay and then throwing it up in the air.

Our little pumpkin!

Well, I am almost 41 weeks pregnant; the most pregnant I have ever been. :) I am going in to the hospital tomorrow morning for an induction, if I don't go into labor on my own before then. I have been having contractions today, but I don't know that they are quite strong enough to send me to the hospital. Hopefully we will be able to update the blog tomorrow with pictures of our new little boy or girl!

Due Date

So, today is officially my due date. It's almost 10:00 p.m. and no baby yet, so I think it is highly unlikely I am having the baby today. I really don't feel like this baby is coming anytime soon. A lot of people assume I am incredibly anxious to have the baby, but the truth is that I am not. I know the baby is exponentially easier to care for now than after he/she is born. That is not to say I am not excited, though. I am. I just don't feel the need to have the baby immediately. My doctor won't let me go more than a week past my due date (I am thankful for that - I don't want a huge baby), so I will probably be induced next Wednesday or Thursday. Here is a picture of me tonight. This is the most pregnant I have ever been (Jack was induced a few days before his due date because the amniotic fluid levels were too low). In other news, we have just been playing, playing, playing. Last week we were able to meet up with my friend Katie and her son Ben since Katie was on vacation. We went to the Botanical Gardens and the kids had fun at the Children's Garden. Jack went down this slide first.

Then Ben went down, and flipped around on the way.

Jack loves to climb things. I am actually very afraid he is going to climb into the crib with the baby since they are sharing a room. He climbed up this rope/web thing all by himself.

I got these two to sit still for a picture by giving them each a stick to hold. Too bad they didn't look at the camera!

We continued to spend time with Uncle David and Aunt Melanie before they left for 7 weeks in South America (they left today). Yesterday, we met them at the Magic House. Jack enjoyed the new Curious George exhibit.

We spent a lot of time putting these things together.

This was definitely Uncle David's favorite part.

Aunt Melanie got to pretend to be the president.

So did Jack.

Next, Jack showed us how to be a judge. He may need to watch more Matlock to perfect his imitation.

I am not sure who had more fun in the construction area.

Check out Jack and Aunt Melanie's hair!

If you look closely you can see that Uncle David is completely inside a bubble!

We went to dinner at my parents' house last night to say good-bye to David and Melanie. Michael was working, so after dinner we went to his work for a couple drinks (he's a bartender) and we played some Wii. We sure are going to miss David and Melanie when they move to Australia at the end of November!

Want to Take a Ride?

So, this first picture has nothing to do with taking a ride. I uploaded it and was going to move it, but had trouble doing that so it stays here. Our weekend started out Friday night with a party for our friends Jeff and Idania, who were getting married the next day. During the party Jim and Jeff entertained us with some music.Saturday morning Jim went mountain biking (no injuries!) and Jack and I went to the Affton Vehicle Fair with our friend Dave and his sons Garrett and Nick. The first vehicle we saw was this fire truck. Jack didn't want to climb into it, but was happy to say "cheese" and get his picture taken in front of it.

Here are the three boys sitting on the fire truck: Garrett, Jack, and Nick. I think Jack might be making gang signs, or doing the itsy bitsy spider.

This tractor/bulldozer was Jack's favorite vehicle to "drive."

We certainly don't need a lawn mower this size for our tiny lawn.

Jack got to sit on the right side to drive the mail truck.

Of course the Rams truck was a big hit (since they have been playing soooo well lately).

Jack is driving a big garbage truck.

It will be a few years before he can reach the pedals of this Mustang.

At the end, we all rode in a school bus back to our cars.

On Saturday afternoon, we went to Jeff and Idania's wedding, and then to the reception that evening. Both were beautiful and lots of fun. Jim and I went to the Farm Aid concert on Sunday. We didn't get there right when it started, but we were able to see Gretchen Wilson, Wilco, Jason Mraz, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, and a little of Willie Nelson. In order to avoid the awful line leaving the amphitheater, we left before Willie Nelson came on, but we were able to see him play a couple of songs earlier (with Dave Matthews and Neil Young).

On Monday, Jack and I went to the zoo with Uncle David and Aunt Melanie. They have moved out of Chicago and are in St. Louis until they leave next week for a month and a half of traveling in South America. They will come back to the States for a few days at the end of November and then they move to Australia! We will miss them lots, so we are trying to spend as much time as possible with them now.