It's a boy!

Friday morning we welcomed Niko Ryan Echelbarger Green into the world!  He's a quiet little guy and we love him like crazy. 

Ryan will be writing the birth story soon for you to read...this time it could probably be written in a tweet vs. 7 parts, which was a huge praise! 

For now, here he is...

7lbs 11oz and 21 inches for those who like stats :)

Due date...and beyond...

Well, my due date has come and gone. As has the day-after my due date. But, that's okay. This time around I am feeling quite happy about each full night of sleep I get before the baby arrives (something I totally took for granted before Ezra was born)...and truthfully, a "full night of sleep" now means getting up to go to the bathroom at least twice in the middle of the night...and then one of those times not being able to fall back asleep right away, so reading in bed for a half hour or so.

My mom is in town, so that has been a nice distraction from just thinking about going into labor constantly...and also super nice to have an extra set of hands around the house to help with the ins and outs of every day living. The other morning she got up from the breakfast table and Ezra said, "She's pretty"..."She likes to play with you" (which, is his way of saying, "she likes to play with me"...we still have trouble with pronouns :). It's true, they make great playmates.

We are finally loving the sprinkler (it was super scary for a loooong time!).

Grandma's "Welcome to Arizona" concert

Playing at the indoor playground at Park Mall (NOT the place to go at 4pm on a Friday :)

Painting with Josiah (somehow Ezra painted his own back...as well as his armpits :)

Josiah on the other hand got most of his paint right on the paper...imagine that!

I love how much Ezra wants to give the baby kisses...always has to be on my belly, over my shirt will not do. 

Ezra declared this to be his "diaper" and "hat"

Making birthday cupcakes with grandma

...for the baby's birthday that is

I'm cherishing these days of having lots of Ezra time...but also looking forward to seeing him as a brother...he is so excited for the baby to come home!

Mashup

Cora and Sheena came over to play the other morning!  Once the jumping on the bed and diving through the play house became old hat (that is after probably over an hour of doing it), they decided to form a band.  My absolute favorite moment,  was that Cora instinctively knew that my rigged up microphone for Ezra was a microphone!!  She walked over to it and just started singing away.

And my second favorite moment is this mashup that they performed...

(In case you couldn't catch all the lyrics, it's The Farmer in the Dell and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. 

Evening walks...

With the evenings being somewhat more bearable lately...we've been trying to spend more time outside.  Lately Ezra is really into walking to the end of our street, which is a cul-de-sac, and then running to touch the sign that marks the very end of the street.  The running part is obviously the most exciting part of this adventure for Ezra.  And we run back and forth approximately 400 times.  It's quite fun...actually, for me the most fun part is just watching how fast his little feet move compared to ours.  (And for our neighbors, they probably are getting a good laugh out of a 9 month prego trying to run/waddle down the street, over and over again.)

Date Night Swap

Two weeks ago Jessica and Noel babysat Ezra while Ryan and I went on a date...woot woot!  We went and saw The Hunger Games followed by pizza at Dry River Pizza Co.  It was a great little getaway.  Ryan and I joked about how when Ezra was little and people would offer for us to go on a date while they babysat, I only lasted approximately 25 minutes before I kept thinking (and saying), "we should really head back to get Ezra"...and somehow on this date, we returned to Ezra almost 4 hours later!  It definitely helps knowing that he is at an age where he is okay with us being gone....and that he is with people he loves to play with!

I stole this picture from Jessica's blog of their evening of babysitting Ezra...

This photo makes me laugh SO hard!  I guess Ezra wanted Eleanor to say "cheese", but she didn't want to...and clearly he thought a mean face and fist would help things...  (I don't think any punches really got thrown...at least I hope not...!)

For me, the above photo ranks up there with this oldie but goodie...I love the collection of photos we are gathering of the two of them...

I think they were about 6-8 weeks here.... I laugh every time I even just think about this photo...

Anyway, back to Date Night Swapping...

This past Sunday evening Eleanor came over while Jess and Noel went out on a date.  Eleanor is such a good match of a playmate for Ezra.  She loves to climb, jump, run around, etc.  I loved how as soon as she came over Ezra was like, "Jump on bed?"...and the two of them went to town jumping on his bed (I know, the monkeys falling off and all...but really, jumping on the bed is too fun and perfect toddler entertainment to say 'no' to!...this is why we have left Ezra's bed as just a mattress on the floor for now). 

However, it still amazes me at how different two kids can be.  I hate to say it's a boy/girl difference...it might not be at all...but I do feel like it's often little girls that I see playing so quietly at times. 

It puts me in complete awe, "Really, Eleanor just peacefully sits there and neatly combs the beans into a pile while Ezra is making them all soar across the room by driving cars through them??"

It was fun to see how cooperative they were in playing together and sharing.

And of course, naked bath photos are necessary to have in the collection of second cousin pics! 

As Ezra gets older, I am finding that having friends/cousins over makes the day fly by while they busy themselves playing together and having fun! 

Second Cousins...

On Sunday, Traci (Ryan's cousin) and Miri (her daughter) were in town visiting from San Diego.  Miri is 6 months older than Ezra, and I feel like this was one of the first visits where they really interacted.  It was so adorable hearing them have little conversations with each other...  "Miri, when everyone done eating, want to go outside?"  Oh, I just loved it.  And, I think Ezra rather enjoyed Miri's company too!  :)

Ezra and Miri bringing carrots to the horses

Aunt Terri and (princess) Miri

Me with my big ol' belly and Ezra (who loves to say "cheese" for the camera :)

Lori, Sara, Ryan and Ezra

My favorite two guys!

Miri and Traci

Feeling brave riding a horse with Dada

"Um, riding horses is cool and all guys, but I really just want to ride the 4-wheeler"

Getting a private concert from Jim playing double bass

Happy 4th!

The 3rd of July welcomed in the monsoon season here in the Sonoran desert.  Which made for a nice and cool 4th of July.  In fact, I think it was about 20 degrees cooler here than it was in Michigan!

We decided to start the morning off with a trip to the park.  It has probably been months since I had the heat tolerance for an outdoor park.  Although, I have to admit that upon getting there I suddenly felt overheated and totally winded (from the 50 meter walk from the car to the playground that is) so Ryan and Ezra played while I sat and watched.  :)

Ezra and I woke up from our naps to thunder and a downpour.  Which naturally meant we had to use the water that was collected in the kiddie pool to go water the garden (those are green beans and corn that he is watering)...

We then headed off to a 4th of July celebration with friends. 

Happy 4th of July!

belly shot...

I packed my bag for the birth center tonight!  We are praying that I don't go into labor this week (Ryan has to fly to Idaho Thursday and comes back Friday)...but it was exciting to pack it...and it's one more thing to cross off the "to do" list. 

While I was packing tonight I thought of this photo from when I was pregnant with Ezra...

Which inspired me to take this photo...

I am pretty sure that I am at about the same stage of pregnancy (38 weeks) in both photos.

Right Now... **

Right now I am::

::Loving the creativity behind Mr. Underwear (featured above)...when leg opening is on side of face, it makes eating dinner very easy.

::Waking up very early to a quiet house (and an active baby in my tummy)

::Taking naps every single day

::Wishing I had thought through the idea of being 9 months pregnant in the middle of a Tucson summer a little better

::Enjoying re-arranging our bedroom for the arrival of a wee one

::Ultra proud of the fact that I made 4 dinners from scratch last week (as opposed to the scrounging we've been doing for the last several weeks)

::Excited by the state of our garden

::Wondering just when I will go into labor

::Praying that this labor will be much quicker than the last, and that I will be able to deliver at the Birth Center

::Looking forward to going for a massage later this morning

::Busy trying to sew a lot of baby wipes and sandwich bags for Little Bird Nesting Company before my time becomes a bit more limited

::Loving how Ezra is always wanting to kiss and hug my belly

::Smiling at how excited Ezra is to have the baby sit next to him in the backseat of the car, and how he has a whole list of songs ready to sing to the baby

**The idea of doing a "Right Now" post has been completely taken from SouleMama**