Christmas at the Lake

Gabriel came just in time to join the Dawson/Roepke Christmas at the lake. Other than a few sleepless nights (for everyone in the house) he did great! It was cold enough for a bon fire, smores, and hot cider and warm enough to play outside. Aaron raked leaves and wittled wood (a few bandaids needed) and we all ate, walked, made ornaments, held the baby, played games, and Ilon danced. Katie, Mere and Aaron put on a fireworks show and bowled with the locals. Merry Christmas!

Gabriel Sky

We had an early Christmas present this year! Gabriel Sky Roepke, 6lbs 4oz 19in, came last Thursday night at 9:38. He was born at the Birth and Women's Center in the water, a beautiful place with really great midwives and staff. The labor was 3 hours and a really great experience (it's been a few days so I'm starting to forget the pain..). I won't put the details, if you're interested feel free to call:) He was due New Year's Eve but several sonograms showed that his growth was not progressing. After the 4th one showing little improvement, they decided the baby should meet the world a little sooner than planned. A little natural induction (again, call if you want details) and he was here! He had trouble with his breathing and after a couple of hours to see if it would clear up, he was taken to the Baylor NICU. It was absolutely awful to see your newborn hooked up to tubes and needles and machines, I am glad we had a few hours with him before. It was a hard 3 days camping out in waiting rooms and a hotel, it really made us appreciate the short time it was after meeting many families who wouldn't be taking their little one home for Christmas. We stayed until Sunday night when they let us go, praise God he is healthy and breathing great!

Hospital pictures

Home Sweet Home

Nurse Izzie

I graduated! I'm a nurse! A graduate nurse until I take the state board exam, feel free to just call me nurse. What a loooong road this has felt like, especially lately. Thanks for everyone who helped along the way, special shout out to Aaron, he probably knows as much as I do and was my guinea pig for everything. Except those catheters, had to use a hot dog to practice those... Now I plan on spending my free time until the baby doing NOTHING and loving it!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year

That's right. Have a merry Christmas, and a happy new year!

Eggs

This pregnancy has been pretty similar to the last one, with a very small baby measuring a few weeks behind. So to give it a jump start I've been assigned the task of eating 2 eggs a day. It doesn't sound that bad until you start dreading the thought of another scrambled egg and have to get really creative. The latest discovery is butternut squash egg puffs. Don't gag, they're delicious.

Aaron and Ilon on their way to the Christmas parade downtown. They have a date every year and take the train, Ilon talks about it for days after. This year her favorite was Santa Claus, probably because Elmo didn't show up:)

We went to a 2-yr-old princess party on Saturday. Ilon doesn't quite know what to do when she's watching someone else open presents and be the center of attention! Probably a new baby in the family will help that out a bit..

36 weeks

We're into the last month! Our midwife thinks it's a boy... anyone else have a clue? Ilon has changed it's name several times. Roger, Frosty the Snowman, and Ilon. She's not a whole bunch of help in the matter.. but she's really excited.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving at the Lake House. The leaves were changing, the weather was gorgeous, and the food was great. Aaron cooked his first turkey and enjoyed every second of it, can you tell? Hope you all enjoyed the holiday!

Guitar Lessons

She's already got a good strum.

Family Quirks

Aaron loves to shop for Ilon's clothes. He went to the store today, with a very short list, and came back with 2 new pajama sets, 2 pairs of tights and 4 shirts for Ilon (one of her new pal elmo, below). All totally cute.

Ilon has a favorite book that she HAS to read every night. It's called "Pancakes, pancakes" and the story is about a boy who has to get all the ingredients to make a pancake the old-fashioned way: cut the wheat, milk the cow, etc.. I've started asking her to read it and she tells the story from memory, and knows where her breakfast comes from! Very cool book, except I might have to hide it for a few months because I need a break.

I find myself in the most awkward places because Ilon says 'mama come please' and I can't resist. Her toddler bed is one of the many, along with her closet, under the table. The only problem is the bigger my belly gets the harder it is to get out. I got stuck between her door and the baby gate a couple of nights ago and I'm still sore.

Fall

This season is flying by for our family, and I'm glad we are finally enjoying it in socks and sweatshirts. What good is fall if you still wear shorts and are tempted to turn the ac on every day? Here are a few random pictures from the last few weeks.

Ilon with Nana and Papa at the lakehouse


Arboretum flower

After the shower bundle

Favorite fall snack

Belly dance

The little one seems to like music...

Breakfast Bus Ride

Ilon has been asking to go on a bus ride since she learned what a bus was. She sees them pass every day and talks about what color they are, how big they are.. So this morning we went on her first bus ride to have breakfast. She was nervous...



But as soon as she got on she ran to the back, picked out a seat, and said hi to everyone!

She loved the bagels, especially the cream cheese. We may have to make this a regular thing..

Halloween Night

Handsome Devil

Crazy Cats

Aunt Mere and the Rooster

Zebra? Horse?

I wanna go home.

We have spent the last 4 Halloweens with some girls from Liberia. They are crazy, candy-hungry and totally cute. Ilon loves them! She was a rooster again by request this year, she actually asks to wear the costume a couple times a week. Meredith and Clint braved the carnival with us and I think we all need a nap. Happy Halloween everyone.

Pizza and Pumpkins

We were buying pants for Aaron the other day and the salesperson was trying to get him into something "club worthy", he said we had to get a babysitter sometime, right?? For the times when we can't make it to the clubs, this is a little bit of the fun we have...

Ilon has named the baby-to-be "Roger". So our pumpkin this year is in honor of our newest addition to be. You can't really see in the pictures but Aaron spelled it Rodger. Does anyone spell it that way? Anyway, nice work with the stork and baby, honey:)

We made a big mess,

and ate a lot of food..

If anyone wants to babysit, we got the pants..