At home...

We are really enjoying our time at home with our little guy - even if it means Mommy has to sleep in the recliner with him every night!! He is so precious and makes our little family seem more complete now!! We love watching Ceili with her little brother - she just adores him! She loves kissing him and talking to him - she is so protective of him and wants him to be involved in every single thing she does!! She was heart-broken when I told her he wasn't going to go to school with her last week or to dance with her this past Tuesday! She just wants him around her all the time, which is a huge relief for me!! She cracks me up when he cries - she tells me "Mommy, your baby is crying!" I have tried and tried to tell her that he is OUR baby...but she insists on calling him MY baby!! Here are a few pictures that we snapped while Keaton was in a good mood the other day...more to follow, I am sure!!

Our Newest Addition

Keaton Charles von Buchler was born on February 18th at 10:10pm...FINALLY!! After a long day, we were finally able to meet and hold our little boy and couldn't have been happier! He was 8lbs 3oz and 20in long...and couldn't be more perfect!! Baby Keaton was greeted by his big sister, Nana, Papaw, Grandpa Charlie, Grandma Lisa, Grams, Auntie Nawna, Keira, Auntie Mamie, and Sarah. We are so thrilled to finally have him here and at home. Ceili is completely loving being his big sister and loves kissing him, holding him and singing to him!! She keeps telling us that she will protect him...and I have no doubt in my mind that she is right!! She loves her little brother so much already - I can't wait to watch their relationship grow as they get older!!

Here is his big sister giving him a kiss for the first time!
Here he is on his first phone conversation with his Auntie A...she was so upset she wasn't able to be there to meet him, but she did get to hear him make some little noises and he was able to hear her voice!!
Here, Ceili held Keaton for the first time...and would not give him back to Mommy for 40 minutes!! She loves holding him so much!!

Stay tuned for more pictures and updates...

"Happy Vawemtime's Day!"

...that's how she says it at least!! We hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day - I know we did! Ceili had her Valentine's party at preschool that morning, where we took heart cut-out cookies that we made together. Then, she got to spend the whole day with Mommy, just hanging out at home since Mommy is supposed to be on bed rest! We then went out to eat with Daddy, Nana and Papaw at Olive Garden - afterwards, she went home with Nana and Papaw and had a slumber party!! She had a lot of fun, of course - they made cookies together and she couldn't have been more proud of herself! It was nice for Mommy and Daddy to have one more evening to ourselves before Keaton is born! That is twice this week - she spent the night with Auntie Mamie, Uncle Matt and Carter earlier in the week as well! It is so nice to have family so closeby and be comfortable enough to leave her overnight - she gets special time with them, and Mommy and Daddy get time to ourselves!!

Now, we are just hanging out and spending time with our little girl these next couple of days before her brother arrives and she will have to share her Mommy and Daddy for the first time! We will be induced Monday morning, so stay tuned for pictures - probably not until the end of the week or so by the time I get around to it!!

Princess for a Day (or hour)

I decided I better go ahead and get a pedicure before the baby is born, so who better to keep me company than our little princess herself?! I paint Ceili's toes all the time, but she has never actually had a pedicure at a Nails place before...so I asked if they would give her one as well. And for a small price, she was made to feel like a real princess! She was so cute, sitting there in that big massage chair with her tiny feet dangling down, just waiting for the man to come back and paint her toes!! They even put the little foam things between her tiny toes! You could tell just how special it made her feel - so worth it to see her this way!! She is such a special little girl, and I hope she always feels that way! As the man was painting her toes, she just sat there and smiled and told me "Mama, I like the man painting my toes!" I am so glad I decided to take her with me - I almost dropped her off with my mom and went by myself. I hope this is something we can continue to do together as she gets older - special time for just the two of us!! Below is a picture of her finished nails - the man painted flowers on her big toes, and she thought that was great!!

Sweet Baby Boy

This sweet little boy was so much fun to take pictures of...once his belly was full! He was so sweet and loved to be held! I hope his mom and dad (and grandma too) enjoy this preview...

Anytime now...

Our little boy has not arrived yet...but he WILL be here within the next 2 weeks and we are soooo ready!! We thought we'd take a few pictures to document this special time in our lives...and document how sweet Ceili is to her brother already! She just loves kissing him and talking to him, so of course, we had to capture that!! Here are some pictures we did this past weekend - a few of Ceili and me and just one of Justin and me. It's kind of hard to get the best pictures of Justin and me when we have to use the self-timer, so we settled for just this one!
We are so excited to welcome our little boy into this world and see his tiny fingers and toes!! We are also excited to see his big sister take on her important role! She's becoming such a big girl these - doesn't she look like a big girl?!?! Fully potty-trained, talks up a storm, so independent and full of personality...so much fun she is these days!!

Keira Turns One!!

Our niece, Keira Hollyn, has turned ONE!! I can't believe how fast the past year has gone by - it seems like she was just that tiny little newborn and now she is taking steps, saying words and showing her little personality off!! What a beautiful birthday girl she was - her mommy did such a great job with the party...everything was perfectly brown and pink polka dots, down to the very last detail!! She loved the balloons at her party and just wanted so badly to pop one...and boy did she try!! It was a great birthday party - everyone had a great time, even if Ceili felt horrible the whole weekend!!
The below picture just says "It's My Party and I'll do whatever I want to do!!"
(Click on storyboards to make larger)

Awaiting...

Ceili is sooooo excited for her baby brother to arrive soon! She talks about him all the time - loves kissing my belly, singing "Twinkle. Twinkle Little Star" to him, and telling us what she is going to do with him once he is born. She says that she is going to "hold him and love him and play with him and change his diaper!" The nursery is done and she is so excited to show every person that walks through our front door!! I was wanting to show some pictures of his nursery...and what better way than to let his Big Sister show it off?!!? We chose to do his room in a Jungle theme...had to do something fun since Ceili's room is an Ocean theme! Justin really did a great job with all of the painting...we've got an elephant, a giraffe, a lion, a zebra, and even a monkey hanging from a tree!! It looks great and I can't wait to watch him enjoy it as he grows!!
The trunk Ceili is sitting on is very special to us! As most of you probably know, Justin (along with his 2 cousins) is in the first generation in the von Buchler family to be born here in the U.S. His grandparents, along with his father, uncle and aunt, moved to Columbus, IN from Germany in 1955 to join some other members of their family that had made the move earlier. This trunk is one of the trunks that was handmade to ship their belongings over here. We found them in Justin's grandparent's basement while we were cleaning it out a few years ago and just knew they were WAY too neat to get rid of. The top of the trunks has their name and address in the U.S. painted on it along with their flight number and information. The original tags are still hanging on them and they are just really neat pieces of work!! This is the smaller of the two trunks, and we thought it would go great in Keaton's room to use for his blankets and other keepsakes. I sure hope our kids think these trunks are as special as we think they are!!
Already trying to climb into the crib on her own, she thought she was hot stuff when I put her in there to try it out!!
The below picture shows just how excited she is for her baby brother to arrive - with her arms up in the air and her feet out, she was screaming "Baby Keaton" as loud as she could!! I cannot wait to see how great of a big sister she makes to Keaton - she is the most caring little girl I have ever known! I just know that she will love him to pieces and protect him like all big siblings should! We are scheduled to be induced on February 18th...so we've got just about 2 weeks until we meet our little boy and we couldn't be more excited!!