Checking the list

Baby nursery painted...check! Curtains hung....check!
New swing...check!
New car seat...check!
We're making progress as we make way for our third little duckling :). Can't wait to show you your completed new room very soon!

The painters finished your nursery today (hooray, it's so beautiful!!) and the boys ceremoniously carried the huge teddy bear to your room.

The teddy bear is passed down from Mama (she used to have it in her room when she was little) to Benjamin, to Christian, and now to you. I bet you will love to cuddle and tackle the teddy bear just as much as your brothers have!
Your big brothers are so excited...not so much about finishing the nursery :) , but about having you in it so they can play with you :).
We're counting down the weeks and days!

And there you are....

And your Mama just can't wait to hold you and kiss you!!
Mama and Papa got to enjoy our favorite appointment of the pregnancy today with the intensive ultrasound that shows us every little part of you! We are still amazed even the third time around :)
We saw all four chambers of your beating heart, up your little button nose, all of the bones in all of your little fingers! Your liver and stomach are working beautifully :) and our hearts sore to see you dancing around in there to your little heart's content.
Mama's favorite part was watching you try to push the ultrasound away; you had had enough when you were trying to get comfortable :). And then when you put your little hands up next to your face (we think you were sucking your hand too...ahhhhh!) I just wanted to scoop you up and eat you!

You are SO beautiful and so precious and we love you so much!
It won't be long before there won't be as much room in there for all of those flips you were doing :) (the ultrasound techs thought you were something else!!) so enjoy it and then when it starts to get a little cramped, we'll just play with each other :).
You will never know how proud your Mama and Papa are, sitting there in that room, seeing you grow stronger and stronger, and having such a personality from the very beginning :)

One of the very most precious moments in pregnancy...

My little one,
Being able to carry you inside my body is such a privilege! It is one of the most amazing joys I have or will ever have in my lifetime. And with each pregnancy I remember so vividly that first moment when the baby KICKS Mama so hard that there is absolutely, positively, no mistaking that Baby is having a ball (or practicing kicking one :)) in there!
Mama has been feeling your strong flutters for more than a month now and I talk to you and rub back whenever I feel all that dancing. But today, you made your very first BIG kick and Mama was so overjoyed!
I had taken your brothers to the park and they were riding on the wooden boats for the second time (they love driving any type of vehicle and the boats remind them of their Ga and his boat :)). And as they were going around, ringing the bell on the boat, there you were! You booted Mama so hard that I jumped! And then I had perma grin for hours.

I love the communication we share together and I love when you tell Mama what you are thinking. I know you heard those boats and you could hear the boys playing, climbing, and riding the carousel. And I promise that some day soon you will be here and joining them in all the fun! For now, you keep kicking Mama and making my heart soar!
I love you sweetheart!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to our own little four leaf clover!
Your big brothers wanted to share green pancakes with you this morning!! Maybe you tasted them coming down the line :)

And Benjamin was sure to show you the trail of gold glitter we found all around the house when we discovered the leprechaun had been here and left the boys some goodies. Benjamin thinks you may be able to help him catch him next year :)

They can't wait to have you here with them to celebrate all of the fun holidays we love so much! I can't wait to have you here!!!!

We love you!!

The star of the parade

Little one,

Today you experienced your first (of many) St. Patrick's Day parades in Raleigh. It has come to be a family favorite over the last few years and this year did not disappoint! The day was splendidly perfect, your brothers and the whole family were decked out in Irish green (appropriately) and you, my little ducky, were the star of the show.

Grandpa John, Martha, the whole fam, AND a random photo bomber...hmmm?!

Mama had a special shirt made for this fun day/time of the year to honor the beautiful Irish genes you have received from your Papa, AND to point out the very important double fact that, even in the womb, you are an Irish fan following in the fourth generation of Donlon/Leonardo members who have attended the University of Notre Dame :) (couldn't miss out on the double meaning for this shirt!! :)).

Mama had not expected the overwhelming response this shirt and your little bump would get!
First people along the parade route would stop me and tell me I had the best shirt they had ever seen. Then members IN the parade started coming over while walking past to tell us I should be walking in the parade! :) Even on our way to lunch downtown, we had multiple parties bang on windows to laugh, point, and tell us they loved you/the shirt! You are apparently already quite the looker :)
Mama was glowing with smiles knowing that yet again, you have made so many people so very happy on this celebration day!

I LOVE YOU MY LIL IRISH!! :)

Painting for Baby

Dear little ducky,
Today your brothers each wanted to paint you a picture :)
They were so cute! They are counting down the days til they get to meet you and show you all of their toys :)

Lillies

Little one,
Today we went to the butterfly house at our favorite museum. The minute Mama walked in the door, she could smell something so beautiful; it literally made me close my eyes and sigh with delight.
I asked our friend if she could smell that wonderful smell and she just laughed. She couldn't smell anything!
I followed my nose around the path, seeking out this amazing smell and just around the bend was a beautiful tree I've seen many times before but never in bloom. The lillies hung nearly a foot long each from the upper branches of the tree, a light orange color like orange creamsicle! And the smell was so amazing! I sat on a bench and just breathed in and out for 5 minutes.
My friend came by and still could not smell the lillies, not unless she put her nose right in to the flower. She laughed again and said you were giving me a super sense of smell.
I remember smelling everything when I was pregnant with your brother Christian too. But this was so wonderful. All I could smell was lillies, lillies everywhere! :) THANK YOU!
Mama will be buying lots of Easter lillies this year to fill the house with something as close to this smell as I can get. You must love flowers as much as your Mama so we will enjoy them together!!