Coming Home!

We came home from the hospital Tuesday evening. Grandma and Grandpa L kept the kids until Thursday, so Baby A and I had a few days to try to figure each other out. These pictures were taken Tuesday afternoon, just before we headed for home. She's wearing a preemie outfit - isn't she a doll? I love the carseat picture -- a little perspective on just how tiny she is. We're doing well -- being post-partem has it's problems (learning to nurse again is just plain painful), but it's so much better than being pregnant! I can watch the food network again without racing for the bathroom!! :) And I can snuggle this little bundle whenever I want. I feel much more settled with Baby A than I did with K or J-boy when they were brand new. I'm sure I'll have plenty of curve balls with her, too, but it's nice to not be so shell shocked. (forgive my mixed metaphors...) :)

Our Favorite Visitors

Baby A (yes, we went with the 'A' name) and I had some wonderful visitors at the hospital, but my favorites were these little guys. Grandma and Grandpa L brought them over to meet their new sister on Monday night. I was so excited for their visit, and they were wonderful. Well, J-boy had me jumping (don't squash your sister, don't jump on the bed, don't jump on ME, etc), but K was just mesmerized by A -- she still is. It's so sweet! Aren't they the cutest? (no, of course I'm not biased!)

Meet the baby!!

Here she is! Wow! Good thing I snuck that prego post in on Saturay!

We haven't decided on the name yet, but she's responding well to angel and sweetheart. :)

I had contractions all day Sunday, about 4 pm I decided she was going to make it before midnight. So I cleaned the house! If I was going to 'labor' on the Sabbath, I might as well get a clean house out of the deal! :)

I packed my bags (K packed her own and J-boy's bags w/o much supervision - I sure hope they have what they need!!), Joseph was making dinner, so I hopped in the bathtub to relax. There are few things I enjoy more than a bubble bath with music, so I indulged and basked in lavendar scented bubble bath and Chopin Nocturnes. And, of course, shaved my legs. :) When I got out of the tub things sped up a little faster than I'd anticipated -- we left the kids with our fabulous neighbors to wait for Grandma and Grandpa and headed to the hospital at 7:30. My nurse-midwife made it in to check me at 7:55, and our little lady made her grand appearance at 8:01!! Kind of surreal!

We're doing really well - she's perfect! I can't wait for K and J-boy to come meet her. :)

The Big Picture

Ugh. Need I say more?!?

Funny Friend!

This is for you CA folk who are related to this lovely lady. Just wanted to let you all know she's trying to relax with the whole freaking-out-mother thing. She let her kids come over to eat ice cream at bedtime to celebrate Joseph's b-day. But it didn't stop there. After loading up the 5 and 3 year olds on banana splits, she gave the 8 month old the hot fudge. That's Heidi -- livin' on the edge! :)

Gone Fishin'

Joseph's been busy turning our kids into expert fishermen. He took J-boy last Friday night, and they came home with a catfish!! K and I spent that same evening at the pool. When we came home, we found a catfish head in the sink, a busy daddy trying to get the fish cleaned and a very happy J-boy, sawing away at some portion of catfish fillet with a blunt frosting knife. :) Then the next morning was K's turn -- this is the second year Joseph has taken her to the Farmstead Fishing Derby. Last year he learned his lesson well: he who stands near the feeder catches the most fish! So K came home with a lovely little trophy, having taken first place with 38 fish caught in 30 minutes! She graciously shared her shirt from the occassion with her brother (who appreciates fish shirts more than K does). I love the way Joseph plays with the kids and takes them on outings -- he is a great dad!!

Family Reunion

Grandpa's siblings all gathered to the midwest for the Fourth of July this summer -- along with about 60 of their children/grandchildren (that's only about half of us!). We got to visit with cousins we haven't seen in years, and had a great time learning about the family and the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in this part of the country. Highlights included stories of Great Grandpa driving the Prophet around in his new caddy in the 60's, K & J making great friends with cousins they'd never met, Joseph documenting stories from family and nature from the region, and (my personal favorite) J-boy fertilizing the tree all the cousins were climbing at Farr West (see the bottom-right picture in the collage). I'm not sure what inspired that particular activity -- I'd just spent nearly 15 minutes with him in the bathroom Adam-ondi-Ahman! We'll just categorize it as another bit to bribe him with when he starts dating...

We watched fireworks in Independence, MO the evening of the fourth, and then spent the next day at Joseph's cousins' gymnasium. The kids had a great time jumping and climbing -- and so did the adults. I mostly sat. :) Probably should have tried out the trampolines -- maybe Baby would be here by now if I had!!

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma, Grandpa, Kendra & Scott are on a mega roadtrip visiting all their kids/grandkids strewn across the US -- I've got at least one sibling in each time zone! We had a great time playing -- K and J-boy LOVED playing with their aunt and uncle at the pool (Kendra and Scott are much better playmates than me...), Joseph made bleaching trays for mom and dad, we enjoyed a movie and lazer tag one night, and just hung out the rest of the time. It was so lovely to have them here -- and even better is that they'll be back on the Westward leg of their trip. And maybe I'll have a baby to introduce them to..... (I'm trying not to hope too much! Mom and Kendra will be back in August to meet the little lady, so it's okay if she can't manage to arrive before they head back home).
I love my family!! Thanks, mom and dad for coming to visit!!

Sweet Sister

K is growing up really fast these days -- I feel so lucky that she's my oldest, because she really rises to the occassion. I have to remind myself now and then that she really is only 5 and she's still allowed to be a kid. The other day we went to play at the Farmstead, and I watched her take care of J-boy. He was so excited for these tractors -- it's his favorite part of the farm -- but there were oodles and gobs of kids there, and he's not quite big enough to hold his own. He's also a little fickle -- couldn't decide which tractor was best, and kept giving up his tractor to go after a new one. But he wasn't ever fast enough - the new tractor was always taken by one of the other children before he could get to it. So he'd turn back to the old tractor, only to have it taken, too. His little face would just crumble, and he'd be on the brink of tears when K would come and rescue him, dragging along the tractor she'd been riding seconds before. They did this over and over again. So he might be the one wearing the 'cape,' but she was definitely his hero that day. :)

T-minus two weeks....

So it's 4 in the morning, and I can't sleep. This is wrong on so many levels. Wrong because I fall asleep during the day if I sit on the couch for more than 2 minutes. Wrong because I've already been up twice tonight with my non-inutero children. Wrong because in two weeks (or less?!) I may become a frequent 4am blogger when baby#3 joins us and requests food in the wee smas. Wrong because whatever sleep I get at night or during the day can't be properly enjoyed because I TRY to toss and turn, but my body is too weighed down by this kidlet, so I end up with more of a groan and roll....

I guess I'm just glad I'm not an elephant (literally -- figuratively I'm probably right about there...)
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Gestation_period_of_a_elephant