Introducing Audrey Ava Neill

14 December 2011 By x In Audrey, Uncategorized

Introducing the newest member of our family – Audrey Ava Neill. She weighed 7 lbs and 6 oz, 19 in – and came out alert and crying with a strong set of lungs! We are so excited to finally meet her.

I had a scheduled C-section this time around, and the delivery was so completely different from Bella’s. We arrived (a little late) to the hospital around 8am, they monitored us, took some blood and ran some tests and then we headed to the OR around 9:45. It was kind of surreal and very calm. Once in the OR, Jer had to wait outside until the spinal was in place…I got a little apprehensive at this point (just wondering if it was really going to work), but a very sweet nurse distracted me during the process and within minutes I couldn’t feel a thing below my chest. Baby Audrey came out quickly and easily at 10:07am. (Funny story, they couldn’t find one of the operating needles for a bit after they finished with me – so they thought they were going to have to X-Ray to be sure it wasn’t inside me – but they quickly found it after a few minutes of looking…) She has been very mellow all morning and latched on to nurse very quickly. The whole day has been very peaceful – Jeremy is at the nursury now with her while they give her a little sponge bath. I’m smitten – as is Jeremy…of course, we are biased, but we think she is absolutely beautiful. I think she actually looks a little like Bella did as a baby too. We are so excited to introduce her to Bella – it has been hard not to have her right here – but I also think it is for the best. (Bella is spending some quality time with MiMi at our house for the next couple of days.) Life is officially changed – and I couldn’t be more thrilled :)



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Ballet Recital

08 December 2011 By x In Uncategorized

Well – I thought that I wouldn’t post again for a bit – but who can pass up the cutest ballet recital photos ever!!! Jeremy and I had the pleasure to watch this little show this morning – and if there is anything that will put a smile on your face, it is a bunch of three year olds sashaying around the room in tutus. The teacher must have the patience of a saint – seriously – the girls were cracking us up.

When I was downloading, I also came across a few Thanksgiving and Christmas decorating photos I had yet to download…The gingerbread barn was sent to us by Grandpa George – and although it turns out that it was harder for us to make pretty like the box picture, we had a really great time cracking up while we put it together (and luckily Bella is much more interested in eating the icing and decorating her own way with candy anyway). Art is subjective, right?



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Time to catch up.

05 December 2011 By x In Uncategorized

Well – I decided to make it a point this weekend to catch up on the blog – because in 9 days, I have a feeling I won’t have time. You know how they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words…”, well, I really hope that is the case, as that is the way these wonderful memories of the past couple of months are going to be displayed. The photos here encompass our awesome trip to Texas in October, my mom’s visit out in November and our fantastic Thanksgiving at the Raddy’s…Here’s a quick sum up:

October in Texas: First, we visited Grandpa George in Athens, and Bella got to experience one of Jeremy’s greatest childhood (and adulthood – since he still heads there for a trip once a year) places. We ate tons of great food, played in the great outdoors, Bella caught her first fish, we hiked with Dixie the guard dog, got to gather fresh eggs from chickens, pat horses,  and plant in Grandpa George’s garden. Then, we headed to Aunt Christi & Uncle Jason’s house to meet Bella’s new adorable cousin, Caitlin. We hung out for a day, and then headed to the TX / OU football game with MiMi, George, Christi & Jason. This was Bella’s first TX fair experience as well – and even though we lost the game, we still had a wonderful time. The rest of our trip to Dallas was really fun as well – we visited the Aquarium (which is absolutely amazing!) and the arboretum – and Bella picked a huge pumpkin that we carved at Aunt Christi & Uncle Jason’s house.

Dee Dee Visits in November: We had a great time hanging with Dee Dee even though the weather out here wasn’t really cooperating. Bella got to take Dee Dee to a swim lesson. (Where she enjoyed showing off her skillz!) But, The coolest thing we did, was head to Sea World – where we did a special tour and fed dolphins, eels and huge sea turtles. It was a really cloudy day, and Sea World was pretty empty – so no one else even signed up – and we got to do the tour all by ourselves! Bella loved all the sea creatures.

Thanksgiving at the Radcliffe’s: At the beginning of the week, Bella was sick, so we didn’t think we were even going to go…but she bounced back by Thursday, so we drove up to OC for a wonderful Thanksgiving break. We got to see all of our old buds, meet Hannah, eat a fantastic meal and Nate put their bouncy house up in the garage and the kid’s jumped all night (and all the next day). They played so hard, that they slept until 9am the next morning!! (Terri said it was the latest that Kaelyn had ever slept!!) It is such a joy to watch the kids play together so nicely, it is almost like having a babysitter on hand. The next day, Terri, Amy and I even got a couple of hours of Black Friday shopping in while the boys watched the girls. We headed  back that afternoon and then decorated the house for Christmas the next day.

These last few weeks have really been going by so quickly. I’m really excited to meet our new baby (no we still don’t have a name!) in just a week or so – plus I am very looking forward to not being pregnant anymore (I’m done with the back pain, leg cramps, huge belly and even the lack of libations!) But I am also really trying to cherish each and every moment that we have with just Bella for the time being. We are so blessed to have both MiMi and DeeDee coming in for a visit during the holidays and during my time in the hospital. I have a feeling the next few months are going to FLY by.

I probably won’t be too on top of my Christmas posts this year – so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year my friends…I’ll try to post baby no. 2 (who WILL have a name at some point) photos as soon as I can.

Much Love from the Neills.

(For the gallery below, you can click on the file and download a larger version – or you can scroll past all of the thumbnails, and a slide show will load that you can just on the arrows to view each photo.)



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Happy Halloween

01 November 2011 By x In Uncategorized

We have had an amazingly busy October!!! It has been absolutely wonderful – we had Grandpa George in town again, got to visit the farm in Athens, meet our new cousin, Caitlin, and visit with family in Dallas, head to the TX vs. OU game and play at the TX State Fair, start at a new preschool (going great now!), have our Annual Pumpkin Carving Party, visit the pumpkin patch multiple times and, of course, Halloween! This means I have about a gazillion photos to go through!!! So…I’m very behind on that. I needed to start small – so I started with Halloween – and I’ll go through the rest and post them later…

Earlier this month I took Bella to a costume store, and she was not into any of the costumes…when we got home, I said, “Well, what do you want to be? Maybe I could order it on the computer? She said, “I want to be an Ant.” Hmmmm….I looked…turns out there are not alot of Ant costumes out for toddlers…I said, Anything else you would want to be? She said, “A spider or a crocodile would be good – I want to be something scary mommy…” Ok…I found those!! I let her pick it from the screen…She chose the Itsy Bitsy Spider. She was pretty excited about it – and I have to say I loved the costume as well!! I think it turned out pretty cute. We trick or treated with the neighbors and our play buddy Megan – and she absolutely LOVED trick or treating this year. She kept saying, “Let’s go to the next house!! This is FUN!!”

Hope you had a happy halloween too!! Click on any thumbnail below to see a big image.

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This year is flying by…

30 September 2011 By x In Uncategorized

So so so much has happened since my last post, I don’t even know where to start…

Let’s see..

First, Bella’s big girl room and my new office are all done – phew, one check on my list done…now I just need to organize baby no. 2 (no – we still don’t have a name – yikes!) room. They scheduled my C-Sec yesterday for Dec. 14, so the pressure is on.

Second, after a month of preschool (and many, many hard days), we’ve actually decided the school we chose was just not a good fit for her personality (just as she was getting adjusted to it – I know…we are awesome parents, huh…), SO we will be exploring new opportunities in that area and yesterday was her last day – I’ll keep you posted on her new adventures as soon as I figure them out myself…awesome.

Third, we had an exciting visit this month from Grandpa George. Bella and George had a blast playing together – and she just couldn’t be more excited to go and visit him soon as well! We played around the house, went to the farmers market and visited the local park. Mommy, Daddy and George got to go to the UCLA v. TX game – and that was a special treat for the adults as well.

Fourth, Bella is LOVING her new ballet/tap class! And I was lucky enough to get to go by and visit this week and get a few photos. She is also still LOVING swim lessons. She is doing great – can swim the length of the pool by herself – and they are starting to work on backstroke! That place is amazing!

Fifth, well – where does the time go? We are already talking about Halloween?!?! Tomorrow is the first day of October…This baby will be here before we know it…YIKES – I’m not really ready yet, I have way too much on my plate to do before that happens!! But…I’m sure it will all work out. It has to, right?!

Enjoy the photos! (If you click on them, you will see the full image…)

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Visits from Mi Mi and Start of Preschool!

08 September 2011 By x In Uncategorized

The last few weeks have been really fun for Bella. First, Mi Mi came for a visit. We had a wonderful visit with great beach weather, and of course, they stopped by Bella & Mi Mi’s favorite bakery. (I took her there this week, and they knew Bella by name!) Jeremy got some of the cutest photos of the two of them – they are posted in the gallery.

Then, we had a nice Labor Day weekend. We pretty much just hung around the house / park / farmers market – but on Monday, Bella went to her very first Padres Baseball game. We sat in the park seats that have a sand play area in front. She had a great time!

And then…the biggest news of all…she started PRESCHOOL!  The night before she helped me pack her lunch, and picked out stuff to put in her new bunny backpack (which she picked out a few weeks ago…) She did great on her first day of school. Jeremy and I took her and hung out for about an hour since it was the first day. She showed Jeremy the “pirate ship” and all the playground area. She was really excited about all the different activities that they had set up – especially painting and clay. But, her very favorite thing was the school’s pet duck, “Quackers”. As she discovered him, she told me, “I like this duck! Mommy, I may just stay by this duck all day!!!” After she was accustomed to the place and introduced around, I left her for the remainder of the day. She did GREAT! (I think when I got home, I was probably more apprehensive than she was! HA!) No tears, and when I came back to pick her up, she told me, “Mommy, I’m having so much fun here!!” I’m absolutely thrilled (and relieved), and so excited for her to get used to it, and make some new friends. My sweet little baby is really just growing up…before I know it, she’ll be heading off to kindergarten. She is getting to be such a big girl!!

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What a nice day.

20 August 2011 By x In Uncategorized

Today we really didn’t do anything all that *special*…but it was just a really nice day. I am so amazed right now how much Bella has grown over just the past month. It seems she is changing and growing so much right now – it makes for some pretty darn wonderful days.

We had some termite treatments done at the house this morning, so I had to be out of the house for the entire morning. I took Bella over to our neighbors house to play with Erin. She and Erin are SO CUTE when they play right now. They are great little buds and find each other so entertaining. Today, they made princess crowns, then had a tea party. Bella is also fascinated with Ethan, Erin’s little brother, and that is fun to watch as well.  After the playdate, we went to swim class. Bella is doing SO GREAT at swim class. I am absolutely amazed at her interest level and at how good the teachers are. She is learning to pull her arms out of the water when she swims right now, and she can swim all the way across the short length of the pool (with the teacher right by her for confidence). The method that they use is a normal freestyle, but then a turn to float on their back to take a breath, and then turn again and move forward. This activity is definitely the first thing she has ever shown this much interest in. She absolutely GLOWS with happiness in the water. In fact, my only problem is the struggle we seem to have at the end of our time at the pool getting her out of the water…I really think she would stay in there all day if she could. Speaking of activities, she said she doesn’t want to do her music class anymore, so I asked her if she would like to try Ballet. She was very enthusiastic about that idea – so we tried a Ballet/Tap class out last week. She LOVED it! So we are going to give it a go for the fall. I only had my cell phone camera on me – but this class is absolutely adorable. They have to wear the whole “ballet” garb for class. Since I didn’t have any yet, I just improvised a bit, but I promise to get some good photos when she starts the real class and has the whole setup! She is really excited about tapping around in those taps shoes, too – and I actually bought a pair from another lady in the class – so she has already started grabbing them to “tap” around in the house. I think she is going to have a lot of fun with it.

Anyhow, back to our day…we went shopping and got a backpack for when she starts preschool. (Which she is actually excited about!!!) She picked out a cute little pink and purple bunny one at Old Navy – and then proceeded to pick out a TON of clothes she wanted. (I actually had to do some editing at the checkout counter…) This was pretty hilarious, as she has never really shown an interest in “shopping” for her clothes before, but she definitely had some today! Then, this evening, we went to the concert in the park with the Byrne’s family. Was such a fun day, she was so cooperative and easy going through all of it. And now…I’m exhausted and off to bed. Enjoy the photos!

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Growing and Growing…

02 August 2011 By x In Photo Galleries

Sunday was the 1 year mark from when my Dad passed away. It seems so surreal to me that he has been gone an entire year – and it actually feels like he has been gone much longer. So much has happened over the last year – and Bella has grown so much, it just feels like more than a year to me. I’m not really the type to remember “death” anniversaries. I find myself thinking about the loved ones that I’ve lost at random times – like when I hear the song, “Breakfast at Tiffanys” or “No Woman, No Cry” – I think of Lara or in January around her Birthday, I feel like I’m forgetting to call somebody…I reminisce about NaNa and how she would come and stay with us during high school, and take Chrissie and I on special trips to Louisiana, and about how we shared a room on the cruise to Alaska. When I hear “Mama’s little baby loves Shortening” or sing other silly songs to Bella, I think of my GranDaddy. None of these things are really remembered items from the days of their death – and I really kind of like it that way. With Dad – I feel like reminders pop up so often, that I am officially going to try to forget this particular day on my calendar. I would rather remember his Birthday, or the trips we took, or the happy moments we shared, than a crappy day that reminds me he is no longer here.

Despite that, I was in a bit of a funk on Sunday morning, but I was determined to get myself out of it. I stuck to my normal routine and took Bella to our local Farmer’s market and then we really ended up having a really nice afternoon with friends. Rick and Sharon had a company pool party and we headed over to enjoy their delicious spread (Bella’s comment about the roast was “MMMMmmm, MMMmmm, Mommy, I like this meat!), and take Bella for a swim. Bronwyn’s darling little girl, Isla was there – and Bella had a great time snuggling and loving on her. (Good practice for when she becomes a big sis!) She loved swimming in their pool, and has been getting so brave in the water (ducking her head under regularly on purpose)…I decided last week she needed to start swim lessons (so I can feel a little “braver” about her bravery!).

Today was our first lesson. She absolutely loved it! She held her breath for 10 seconds under the water while the teacher pulled her around the pool, learned about kicking, pushing off the side of the pool, back floating, and even big arms. She was SUPER excited when Jeremy showed up to watch the lesson as well. I think she tried twice as hard once she saw he was watching too. The teacher said she really did great – and that she thought she’d get the hang of it in no time. I’m absolutely thrilled that she genuinely seemed to be having a good time…To me, swimming is such an important safety skill to learn – especially living so close to the water, but also, I have so many fond memories of my childhood spending time in the pool, that I can only hope she’ll have some of the same.

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Bella the Big Girl

28 July 2011 By x In Uncategorized

My sweet Baby Girl turned 3 last week. Three years has gone by so fast. This week, I have been working on her 3 year scrapbook, and reviewing all of our memories from the past year and I am just amazed by how much she has grown over this year. She truly is becoming a BIG GIRL and I couldn’t be more proud of her.

She had a nice Birthday despite a few hiccups in the day. Poor Daddy got food poisoning the night before, so unfortunately, the day wasn’t very nice for him. Bella and I met up with Cash/Sheri and Megan/Joann at LegoLand waterpark. Bella always has fun when we go there. The smile she gets on her face while splashing around in that pool is contagious – I get so much joy watching her. She likes two of the slides, but mostly right now, she is excited about putting her face under the water and holding her breath. She can make it about 5 seconds. She bounces out from under the water and says, “Did you see? I’m gonna do it again…watch me!” I’ve decided it is officially time for real swim lessons, and have found a class I want her to start next month. Then we came home, napped (sort of) and had the neighbors over for some hot dogs & cake. Bella had lots of fun playing with all of the other children – and loved that she got presents, too! Our house is filled with all sorts of new playthings for her to enjoy.

We started potty training the week before her birthday – and she is doing SO good! I decided to try M&M’s as motivation – and what do you know…they seem to work. This week, I’ve been taking her everywhere with Big Girl underwear on, and no accidents in public so far. I think we’ll wait quite a while for naps and night-time, but I am just so proud of how far she has come the past couple of weeks. Now…if I could only get her to wipe. HA!

I’m in the process of building a shed/office in the back and so we’ve had lots of workers coming by to give me quotes on the various projects I need done to accomplish the move from upstairs to the back. Unfortunately, they sometimes show up announced or with bad timing. Today, one contractor showed unannounced during the start to Bella’s naptime. Well, she was having none of it… After I put her down, she climbed out of her crib (this is the first time she had EVER done that!), and walked down the stairs. After excusing myself, I carried her back up, put her in the crib and walked back down to finish my conversation. This repeated 10 times before I just gave up. So today, I installed the daybed conversion on her crib so that she can climb out on her own without breaking her neck. (She was thrilled with this change…) Miraculously, she went to bed with very little fuss. I’m curious to see if she creeps into my bedroom this evening. I’m crossing my fingers that I won’t have a night-time visitor. Taking down the “crib” is so BIG GIRL – I am not even ready for it!!

I wish I had the photos ready to post from her Birthday – but unfortunately, they are on Jeremy’s camera…but I do have a couple more photos from the Laird visit. These are when we went to Mission Bay for Cash’s Birthday Party, and also when I carted the adults around to the Temecula wineries (yes, I was the nice pregnant designated driver…) Enjoy…

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More Photos, More Fun!

08 July 2011 By x In Uncategorized

Summer is here – and we’re having a LOT of fun. We’ve been to Ruidoso to visit Dee Dee, had Mi Mi for a visit, and currently have the Laird family visiting. We’ve done lots of trips to Legoland and just got back from Disneyland today. I thought I’d post some pics…If you want to see the full photo, you can click on the small thumbnail.

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