We Are Having A.......

....Baby GIRL and her name is going to be Haley Elizabeth Gray!! And we could not be more excited!! We had our ultrasound today at 11am!! I just love having these ultrasounds! It is so amazing to be able to see our little miracle sent straight from our Father in Heaven kicking and moving around inside of my tummy! Micah and I were ecstatic when the technician said it was a Girl and got even more excited when the doctor came in and spent a good deal of time with us, talking about each of her parts and how they were perfect and he confirmed again that in fact we have a little girl waiting to join our family!!

It was such a wonderful experience today. Mommers and Dooders met us at the office and took Emily for the day! It was nice to spend this moment just focusing on Haley ~ as she is our second child we know she won't get too many moments like this so we were thrilled to have this time! She is absolutely beautiful already and we can't wait to meet her some time around March 15, 2010 and get to know her!! Parenthood is an amazing journey and Micah and I are so happy to be taking this amazing eternal journey together!!

Without further ado, here are some of her cute ultrasound shots!! Enjoy!!

Haley's Profile

One of my favorite shots! How I love that little leg!!
We were so excited that Haley was co-operative for her 3D photos! With Emily she had definitely had ENOUGH and plus her little umbilical cord was draped across her face! But not Haley, this was her moment to shine and she was taking full advantage of it!! We think she is absolutely beautiful and can't wait to meet our second little princess!!

21 Weeks and Happy as can Be!

I can't believe how quickly this second pregnancy is going! And since I don't usually get the full few of my pregnant self I was surprised to see these pictures after Micah took them! I had no idea that my belly had grown so much!

Having this second baby is so exciting though. I have recently started to feel this little one moving around inside my tummy! And it is a feeling that is irreplaceable!! There is nothing for me quite like feeling my child and knowing that he or she is developing, growing and moving right inside my tummy! It is amazing! It makes up for all the hard parts of pregnancy 110% that is for sure!

With each passing week I am getting more and more excited to welcome this second baby into our family! I am really looking forward to watching Emily continue to learn and to grow as she becomes a big sister! I feel so blessed from Heavenly Father that He has chosen to send down 2 of his most precious children to our family so close together! I know that it is going to be a big adjustment having two children so close together, but it is going to be a lot of fun to watch them growing as siblings and best friends too!

Only 1 more week until our 22 week ultrasound, which we are very excited about! I love that part of pregnancy too! But for now here are a few pictures that we have taken to document this 21st week!!

Here I am 21 weeks and Smiling!

Can't have a photo shoot without my Sweet "P"!!

Practicing our Waving....And Who better to wave at than Daddy behind the camera!!

On Sunday night we decided to give Emily a bath in the "Big Tub" for the first time, since we were both home. She was a little apprehensive at first, but she ended up really enjoying it! I think now that she is getting bigger she likes to have the extra room to play and splash around! And thanks to a knee pad that Mommers and Dooders gave us we can finally kneel down on the bathroom floor for her bath time!! It all works out and everyone is happy!

She sure does love to Cheese for the Camera!

Halloween Fun with the Grays!!

Halloween was so much fun this year! It's funny because neither Micah nor I are really into Halloween all that much! I am just not a fan of all the scary gross things that sometimes accompany Halloween. I like the happy light-hearted fun side of Halloween! Carving Pumpkins, trick-or-treating and dressing my baby up in the cutest costumes ever!! This year we were fortunate enough to have 2 costumes for Emily. Mom and I were shopping a few weeks back and saw this adorable pumpkin costume and we had to get it!

These first few pictures are some that I took of Emily during our little photo shoot on Friday morning before we headed out to take some Halloween Cupcakes to Daddy's work!! I definitely found out during this photo shoot that I need an extra helper!! Even though she was not into smiling for the photos she was still simply irresistible in this little costume! I sure love this little pumpkin!

Nothing can compare with this little "Sweet P" sucking her thumb!

Had to bring in an extra prop!

2 pumpkins in the family!


Getting ready to take off towards the camera!

Tired and absolutely adorable!

We stopped by Mema's on the way to Mommers and Dooders' on Friday, so that she could see our adorable little pumpkin and Emily was excited to check out all of her Halloween decorations too!

And Emily's Great Aunt Tede was there too! She hadn't seen Emily in a while, so they had a fun time together!!

Emily on the floor doing what she does best....checking out all the Halloween decorations!!

Full Shot!!

Had to take a moment out for a family photo!

On Halloween Day we dressed Emily up in this adorable Ladybug outfit! Aunt Sarah gave it to us for her to wear!! Hannah, Abigail and Lydia (Emily's cousins) all wore this little ladybug outfit for their first Halloween too! A little bit of nostalgia!!

View from the Back!!

Emily LOVES to pull up ~ doesn't matter if it is a pumpkin, a chair, a crib, a couch!!

This mommy sure loves her Ladybug!

On Halloween afternoon Mommers and Dooders had us over to their house for a Halloween lunch and some family fun! It was nice to get to see Jacob and Tiffany and little Miss Gracie Kaye (who is still inside of Tiffany's tummy!)

3 mommies with their babies!! Me with Emily and Baby #2, Tiffany with Gracie Kaye, and Jessie with Eliza Lynn!

Have you ever seen a sweet bumblebee and an adorable ladybug just hanging out together on the ground?

Daddy getting in some love with his ladybug!!

Group Shot on Mommers and Dooders front porch!

After we left Mommers and Dooders' on Halloween we decided to make a quick stop by Mema's so that she could see Emily's second outfit too! And they had a little party going on their as well! Everyone loved Emily's little costume and Emily enjoyed all of the attention she got too! Here she is sitting on Mema's lap with a pretty funny expression on her face!

3 of her Great Aunts had costumes on too! So Emily didn't feel to out of place here. In this picture she is with her Great Aunt Debra!

Here's our little ladybug with 3 of her Great Aunts ~ She is trying to give Tede some lovin', and Debra and Sweetie are in the photo too!

Halloween was definitely full of visits! After we left Mema's we went over to see Great Grandma Louise and Charlie. Emily was getting tired by this point and was tired of visiting and her ladybug costume, but we were still able to take a few more pictures!

Great Grandma Louise thought she was a super cute lady bug and enjoyed getting in some snuggle time!

Lastly, here are a couple of videos that we took! This one is of Emily and Eliza racing for their toys! It is the first time we were able to capture a crawling race between these two on video!



This second video is one that we took of Emily in her bedroom before we left for the afternoon on Halloween! We thought she was super cute crawling across the floor as a little ladybug....and her wings only seemed to weigh her down slightly!

10 Months Sure Has Gone Fast!

Emily turned the ripe old age of 10 Months yesterday at 10:15am! So in honor of her 10 month birthday we did our monthly photo shoot when Daddy got home from work! We had a blast doing it, as usual and got some really cute shots too!

But first, we wanted to share a little about what has been happening with Emily in her 10th Month:

~ She now has 6 Teeth! Her first one came in on September 24th and her most recent one just popped through yesterday!! She has been a trooper through it all though!

~ She has learned to crawl and loves to "Go" everywhere now! We have been watching her to see what all we need to baby proof and I must say she is doing a great job of baby-proofing! Today she even learned how to take the cover off of the electrical outlet!! A little scary for mommy!

~ She loves to eat "Big People Food" now. Some of her favorites are bananas, cheerios, mashed potatoes, but her all time favorite is home made Macaroni and Cheese!! She is definitely her mommy's daughter!

~ She has also learned to stand up in her crib and is doing that almost every morning when I go to get her and after her naps too! Good thing we lowered her bed a little while ago, hopefully she doesn't learn to crawl out any time soon:)

~ She loves to play with papers and books! Sometimes when I give her a paper or a book I will find her just quietly sitting there reading it, like she is absorbing every word!! It is absolutely adorable!

I think this covers the adventures of Emily's 10th Month in a nutshell. Overall, she is a very happy baby, who loves her Mommy and Daddy, her bottle, her sippy cup and her bed!! We love her and are grateful for the way she lights up our hearts every day!!

Here are a few pictures from last night's photo shoot......................

Emily LOVES her bear!

"No, that's okay, I got this!"

She was ready for the next activity!!

Here she is trying her best to get away!

Look how tall she is getting! I think these photos are her favorites!

Outside with my princess on a beautiful Fall afternoon!

Gotta get my Emily kisses!!

Emily sure loves her Daddy....isn't the look on her face just precious!!

Our 1o Month Family Photo (although not taken from the best angle!!)

Here is a cute little video that I took of her on Monday as she was going through my coupons! It's a little routine that we have started on Monday mornings. After I go through and get all the coupons out I let her play with all the extra paper and she LOVES it!

Family Home Evening Halloween Fun!

Last night our Family Home Evening consisted of raking some leaves in our front yard while Emily played in her new blow up gym and then we came inside and carved our pumpkin! It was a fun night. Emily was so excited about having a pumpkin she could hardly stand herself! She was pulling up everywhere to try to get to it! She is such a fun little girl! We love having her in our family, she brings us so much joy!

And you know us Grays, we can't have a fun activity like Pumpkin Carving without busting out our camera for some pictures and last night was no exception! Here are some of the still shots from our adventures last night! Enjoy!

Everyone had a job to do last night....Emily's was to talk to us about what kind of new recipes she was cooking up in the kitchen:)

Mine was to make Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert! They were quite yummy and since we worked up quite an appetite carving our pumpkin they hit the spot!


And Micah's job was to trace a face and carve out our pumpkin! And he did an excellent job! (I forgot to add that my second job was to gut out the pumpkin...wonder why there are no pictures of that lovely process!)

When Emily saw Daddy carving she had to help out as best as she could!! (Don't get too worried, Daddy jammed that knife into the pumpkin really hard before he brought her over to it!!)

Man, we thought she enjoyed the pumpkin when we first brought it in the house....that was nothing compared to the excitement she had after we were all done and the pumpkin had a face!!

Mommy had to get a picture taken with her cute little pumpkin who now has 5 teeth!!

Our Family shot with the newest addition(although only temporary)!!

Here's a video we got of Emily last night shortly after we brought her inside from raking leaves. She wanted to pull up so bad, but having her snow suit on made it a little more difficult! But in the end, that proved to be NO CHALLENGE for our little "Sweet P"!

Another Fun Trip to Northern VA!

Since we have had our little sweet Emily our trips to Northern Virginia have become a little less and farther between, just for the simple fact that it is HARD to travel with a baby. But we still do enjoy the trips we do get to make so much!

This time it was to celebrate Uncle Jacob's birthday and to do a little babysitting swap with Nathan and Sarah so that us and them could all attend the temple. I am so grateful for the family that I married into. Lots of people, lots of personalities, lots of little kiddos and lots and lots of fun!

We celebrated Jacob's birthday Friday night at Mummis' house. She served Cashew Nut Casserole (one of Jacob's favorites) and Pecan Pie for dinner! It was really yummy, but the best part for me was (in between feeding Emily) getting to watch and listen to everyone as we gathered around the table chit chatting with one another about all kinds of different things! I loved watching the interactions with everyone and watching Emily's face as she was taking it all in and seeing the joy in her face as she participated in many a staring contest with her Uncle Matt, and watching the excitement in her eyes knowing that one day soon she will get to talk with all of her cousins too! Such a tender moment for this mommy and I am so grateful to a Heavenly Father who blesses us with those tender mercies, just when we need them most!!

Jacob surrounded by nieces and a nephew as he looks at his birthday cards!

Everyone was so eager to reminisce about what they had written inside for him! And excited as he asked them questions about different parts of the cards!

The next morning we went to Nathan and Sarah's house to watch all of the kiddos while they ran away to the temple for a couple of hours. We had lots of fun playing with all 6 kiddos! Everyone got along so well! And took such good care of each other!

Here is Abigail and Emily together, she loved helping her stand!

Lydia enjoyed sitting in this little chair and reading books most of the morning!

She even didn't mind sharing her books with her youngest cousin, too much:)

She was getting a little tired of being interrupted for pictures at this point, but Hannah is so precious that we had to snap another one!

Here's Joseph as he reads on the couch! He had to have a picture with his "crazy eyes"!

Speaking of Crazy Eyes! We sure love Hannah! She is always so happy and full of excitement and energy!

Abigail and Emily were ready for another picture together, both looking just as cute as ever!!

When Abigail was outside helping Uncle Micah carry mulch to the backyard she found this rose and enjoyed smelling it, at least until it was torn apart later during a game of "Capture Micah".

She was so eager to let everyone smell her rose, but Lydia wasn't so sure about it!

After Nathan and Sarah returned from the temple, Micah and I got to go. We had a great time, as we always do each time we get to be together inside of the temple. There is such a peace there. I am glad we are able to go so often. It truly is a blessing to have family living so close that we can swap babysitting with almost on a monthly basis!

When we got back from the temple, Sarah had Emily ready to go and we headed for home. But we made a pit stop at the Olive Garden, since we had a gift card to use we thought it would be a shame not to stop! All 3 of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was the first time Emily had gotten to sit in one of the high chairs at the restaurant and she liked it A LOT! She was so happy and loved eating her food and talking to us almost the whole time! And you know us, we had to get the camera out again and snap a few more photos!

Here she is as she begins her dinner!

Looking up at Daddy after she realizes her snack is all gone!

We were able to snap a little video too! You can see how much fun she was having! We couldn't pass it up!