Introducing...Shea Frances Castellano

Shea Frances Castellano
Born: 12:34 p.m, April 17th, 2013
7lbs. 4 oz. 19 1/2 inches long

She's finally here!

The Before Picture ==39 weeks

The After===Our beautiful baby girl!!

Getting ready to leave the hospital on Saturday.

The girls were very excited to finally bring their sister home. 

This morning Gwendolyn was trying to rock Shea in the swing, while Braelyn was reading books to her.

Daddy loves his newest baby girl!!

 We are thrilled beyond belief to have our family of 5 at home together at last. Shea is an extremely good baby. She only wakes up a few times a night. I forget how much newborns sleep during the day too! The twins are so extremely excited to have their little sister finally out of Mommy's belly. They have adjusted extremely well so far. 

Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers!

Newest Castellano Will Be Arriving Today!!!

Prayers are appreciated as Heather goes in for her c-section at noon today. We are praying for a safe and uneventful delivery. And also that Braelyn and Gwendolyn adjust well to our new family of 5!!! :)

Happy Easter!

I truly can't believe that it's April already tomorrow! We've been counting down the months until April knowing that would be the month that our next miracle will be brought into this world. My c-section is scheduled for April 17th. Only 2 1/2 weeks away!!!! Now I'm not so sure we are ready. :) Lots of changes coming our way. But we couldn't be more excited. The room is pretty much ready. And most would think that we have tons of girl's clothes...which we do! But unfortunately, most are from the wrong season. Who would have thought about that, huh? :) Most of the girls' infant clothes are Winter, and we really needed Spring/Summer clothes for the new baby. So, I have spent some time consignment shopping lately. (one of my favorite things to do actually) :) I've done pretty well, so hopefully we are ready for at least a few months!

Here's a few pictures to show what we have been up to lately!!

Braelyn still loves these silly rides that usually steal your quarters, but I try to keep a few in my purse so she gets the chance to ride them. 

This is the only toy that Gwendolyn loves. And let me tell you, she LOVES it! She got it for Christmas this year and calls it her "Princess Baby". She hugs it and feeds it and pushes it in a stroller. But at night......Princess Baby MUST go in the closet. Gwendolyn is quirky with her bedtime routine. She does not allow anything out of the ordinary to be in her view when she goes to sleep. All clothes must be off the dresser, no toys left on the floor, and Princess Baby needs to be safely stowed in the closet. We don't ask questions. :)

Gwendolyn wanted me to write Daddy's name on the paper so she could trace it. She's been really into tracing lately. 

This was me a week or so ago. The girls are extremely excited for the baby!!!

I am SO proud of this picture!! Braelyn was sitting at the table drawing and coloring one day and she said, "Look Mommy! I drawed an egg and writed your name!" And I'll be darned...she did!!! She has asked me how to spell Mom for awhile now, but this is the first time that she wrote it all by herself. She has been writing it on everything lately and I couldn't be happier! Love that girl.

One of the many moments that the girls just asked me to take their picture. 

Coloring Easter eggs!!

This is how we started our Saturday morning. Love my life!!

We spent some time at the horse barn on Saturday signing Gwendolyn up for her horseback riding again. Braelyn gets to join her again this year too. They are very excited to see their horses again.

Poor Gwendolyn was a bit apprehensive about getting on the horses again. Daddy was a good sport and aloud her to sit on his shoulders to let her warm up to the idea again. She eventually sat on the horse, but just for a little bit. 

The girls were rewarded with ice cream afterwards. But maybe just because I was in the mood for some ice cream. :)

This was just a funny Gwenner moment. I was asking her to come over to me so that I could change her pants, but she just kept saying, "Just a minute Mommy! I want to see this real quick!" As you can see, it was the weather report. Sure kid, not too convincing my friend. :)

Easter baskets that the Easter bunny brought. Gwendolyn wasn't too excited about the Easter Bunny being in her house over night. Not a fan. 

Gwendolyn is obsessed with Barney at the moment. I have learned that Barney stuff isn't that easy to come by anymore! It's a bummer. But, I did manage to score this book at a consignment sale and the Easter Bunny brought it to her this morning. :) So keep your eyes out for anything Barney related and I will totally buy it from you. :)

Easter morning breakfast. 

Tried for some cute Easter pics, but the sun was so bright! ;)

Hunting for eggs!

Snow....And LOTS of it!!!

What a week! We've had over 20 inches of snow this week so I have been out of school since Tuesday. We just got word that school is cancelled again for tomorrow (Friday) too. That's one of the bad, or good things depending on how you look at it, :) about working at a small district school. There are country roads that aren't safe for buses quite yet. Gwendolyn was out of school most of the week too, but did go back  today. It was kind of nice because I was able to take her and pick her up. I never get to do that so it was kind of a treat for us. Braelyn and I then were able to spend the morning together, just the two of us. We never get that opportunity. I actually do that more with Gwendolyn because I take her to appointments and things so we are able to spend one-on-one time together more often. 

Braelyn and I didn't do anything too special, but ran a few errands. One included going to Kohls to see if we could find something that Daddy was looking for. She had a great time. She wanted to try on all of the high-heel shoes so I let her. It WAS a girls day after all, right? ;) She did find some purple sparkley shoes that were her size I let her get. After we paid and were walking out the door to the parking lot, I turned around because she was walking behind me and she had a big green crocodile in her hands with a big ol' smile on her face to match. We were already in the parking lot and I did NOT pay for this crocodile. So, we had to go back in and pay for it. I believe this was our first little experience with shoplifting. ;) We had to have the little talk about asking Mommy if we can have something from a store. When the clerk asked her what she was naming her new crocodile friend she didn't even hesitate and said she was naming him "Scared". ;) That girl cracks me up.

The girls love lounging in what they call "Baby Shea's Room". All that's in it is her changing table and her dresser. But there is still our old tv in there also from when it was the guest room, so they ask to watch their Veggie Tales in Baby Shea's room quite a bit. 

I shared a sleeping Gwendolyn picture last time, so thought it was only fair to share my other sleeping angel's picture. Braelyn has started a new sleeping ritual the past couple of weeks. She insists on sleeping only in her panties. She always says her back is hot. So...this is how we always find her in the morning or after nap. She also absolutely needs her pink blankie, and about 6 of her favorite animals. They include (in no particular order), a pink unicorn, a white unicorn, a white sheep, a pink bunny, a ladybug pillow pet, and her MUST have Hello Kitty Build a Bear. I have to line them all up next to her at night and look out if any of them fall off the bed in the middle of the night. There will be crying at 2 a.m. It's happened......

Just hanging out one snowy morning. 

One view of the snow we got. This was actually after our first snow. We have gotten more since then. :/

I happened to have some wooden bird houses that we bought a looooong time ago for the girls to color and we never really got around to it. I was very happy to have them to entertain the girls one day this week. 

One of the shoe choices from our girls morning out at Kohls. At least she picked a pair that matched her dress!!!

And here is the crocodile that almost landed us in "Kohls Jail". She loves her "Scared". 

We took the girls outside to play last night. The first picture here is Gwendolyn asking if she could "sit in it". As you can see, she got her wish! :)

You would think an Iowa girl would have boots, snow pants and proper sleds for her girls huh? Well, in my defense, it really doesn't snow that much here! And if it does, it melts so quickly that we really wouldn't get much use out of them. But I AM resourceful! And luckily I have a child that will fit in a diaper box. And for the record....the diaper box worked perfectly as a sled. 

Snow Angels. Gwendolyn says..."No Thanks!"

"Mommy!!! I made a SNOW ANGEL!!!!"

Our very first snowman. They named him "Frosting". 

We have been promising the girls that they could go to Chuck E. Cheese again soon. So, we used it as a sort of bribery last week. Daddy had to go out of town for a few days so we told the girls that if they were good for Mommy all week we would take them to Chuck E. Cheese when Daddy came home. They really were pretty good so we spent a Sunday afternoon enjoying all that is Chuck E. Cheese. :) I wasn't feeling well the first time they were able to go so I was very excited to watch them play this weekend. Apparently last time (in August), Gwendolyn wouldn't really play any games, or ride any little rides or anything. Chuck would try and convince her but she would have no part in it. Well, this time she was loving life! It just goes to show you how much she has matured the past few months. There were times I had to chase after her because she was trying to go off on her own. It was a proud moment to watch. 

She hit a jackpot of 75 tickets on one game. You would have thought it was a million dollars to this kid! 

So, all in all it's been a different sort of week, but very enjoyable for me as I have been able to spend some quality time with my two girls before we will have THREE girls in a few months! 

Have a great weekend!!!!