Melia at Home

Oliver and Gabby both love bringing Melia her Elephant blankie "Ellie." It's something they can understand (because of their Puppy and Bunny blankets) and a great way they can help!

First Bath - with Brother and Sister helping too!

All clean, dry, warm and happy!

We're loving our girl!

Hospital Pictures

Here are the pictures they took of Melia today at the hospital. Some pretty cute ones :)

http://www.bellababyphotography.com/

Click on "View Photos" and the password is: 0626meliadillard

More fun with baby girl

We're still enjoying loving on our new little girl. Here are some more pictures of our 1st day as a family of 5!!

Also - just wanted to clarify a little more on her name. We are pronouncing it Muh-lee-yuh... Melia. It's a name that I have liked for a while. I think it was even in consideration when we named Gabriella. Melia's middle name is Rose which is also her great-grandmother's middle name. Virginia Rose Burt is Matt's maternal grandmother. So we are very pleased with her cute feminine name and the opportunity to honor Matt's grandmother by continuing the family name Rose.

Here are some fun pics!

Big Brother and Big Sister

Our cute family!

My two sweet girls

After a shower - ahhh - feeling much more human :)

Pepe and Meme with all of their grandchildren

Daddy and his new little girl

Matt's Uncle Randy and Aunt Amy came by for a visit!

We're loving introducing our cutie to the world. We should be at the hospital until tomorrow and then at home sometime tomorrow afternoon-ish. Give us a call if you'd like to come visit either place!

THE BABY IS HERE and it's a...

Aren't you dying to know? We definitely were! We are thrilled to announce the birth of our baby GIRL!!! Melia Rose Dillard was born at 1:27pm and weighs 8 pounds 4 ounces and is 21 inches long. My water broke at 3:40am so we got to do a middle of the night run to the hospital. Fortunately my mom was here so she stayed with the big kids. Both my mom and my mother-in-law (and Matt of course) got to be in the delivery room. She was out in one push and is doing great!

Me and my parents - ready to start pushing!

Matt's parents!

Matt, Melia and Papa

Ballerina Class

Gabriella just started her "Ballerina Class" (as she calls it) last Saturday. It was super cute - I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time. There's something very entertaining about watching a bunch of 2 year olds run around in tutus and ballet shoes trying to follow instructions. She had a BLAST - she is very into anything structured with a teacher. We often play school, BSF, swimming lessons, etc. at home. I am usually the teacher but it varies. Sometimes she is and today she even tried to rope Oliver into being her swimming lessons teacher. When asked, "Teacher, what should I do today?" he had two instructions for her:

Number one: "Put your face in the water"
Number two: "Go find your other teacher"

Meaning me. Very sly that boy.

Gabby needed no encouragement to follow along with what she was supposed to be doing - this girl is very self-motivated! Mommy had fun dressing her up too! We all enjoyed focusing on her and celebrating this lovely lady.

Showing off her reward sticker at the end of the class. This girl LOVES stickers. I am constantly picking them off the floor, the furniture, and my clothing... where sometimes I wonder how long they have been there. Especially when I find them on the bottom of my belly that I can't really see right now. She is sneaky...


Here is some video of our little ballerina in action:

Enjoying the Summertime

I really feel like summer kicked off on Memorial Day weekend. It's hot, our spring activities are done, and we've started our theme weeks! Each week of the summer we have a different theme that we focus our activities on. We started off with Firefighter week... and here is my brood playing their daddy-inspired game of putting out fires around our house. I'm loving all of their outfits!

We have such a fun Daddy! He really gets into playing with the kids!

Here is my non-performer at his end of year preschool program. At least he didn't cry this time. But there was definitely no singing from those lips!

Gabby in her "Goddles" as she calls them. She LOVES them - and sticks her face right in the water. I don't see her having the fear of water that her brother does (or did - swimming lessons seems to have cured him of that! Woo hoo!)

Oliver wearing one of Matt's old sport shirts from when he was a little boy as a nightshirt to sleep in. Super cute and perfect for our warm summer nights!

And here's me looking (and feeling) huge! Baby #3 is due in less than 3 weeks!