Sunday, April 19, 2015

Life as 5

Now that we are outnumbered, I thought I better update on our life as 5!  The first few weeks were plenty chaotic as we tried to get into a new "normal."  Now that Annie is six weeks old, things seemed to have settled down a bit!  ;)  Ruby absolutely adores her baby sister and says that she gives her 100 kisses a day... she might not even be exaggerating!  Jace likes Annie too but needs frequent reminders to be gentle!  Just this morning, he practically laid right on top of her.  Annie has already gained a few nicknames from her older siblings which include, "Sweets," "Junior," and "Annie bananny."  





Annie's first bath....


...luckily she calmed down and decided it wasn't so bad after all!


Doesn't everyone like to bathe with three sets of eyes watching?!


Trips to the park... most of the time, Annie doesn't even know where she's at!  She just sleeps through all the adventures.  ;)








The love of a sister....  






Family visitors

Hattie and Brandon came the weekend after Annie was born.  It was SO nice to have them here!  They got some snuggle time with Annie but they also played with the big kids a TON!  With Paul back to work, they were able to give Ruby and Jace plenty of attention.  We had beautiful weather while they were here so they ran alongside Ruby while she rode her bike, helped her roller skate, swung Jace in the swing, played in the sandbox, and took them to a nearby park.  We were all sad to see them go!





Then my parents came back when Annie was three weeks old.  It was wonderful to have them here as well!  My dad took Ruby and Jace "shed hunting" in the woods behind our house.  They found two deer sheds and a full deer skull.  My dad was like a kid in a candy store!  He loves that kind of stuff!  Ruby and Jace had fun but may have been more excited with all the flags they found!





Photo courtesy of Ruby ;)


The hoodie boys ;)


 We love having family here and hope they come back soon!  ;)

Monday, April 13, 2015

Annie Lynn

We welcomed another little girl into our family on March 6th!  Despite Ruby's many ideas on what we should name the new baby, we settled on Annie Lynn (Lynn after my sister Hattie whose middle name is also Lynn).  Annie weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces and was 19 and a half inches long.  She came very quickly and was born at 12:50pm on that Friday.  We are in love with this little sweetie!  



After a 9:00 dr. appt that morning, in which Dr. Ward said I could probably stay and they could get things moving along...I opted to head home.  I had been having some very minor and inconsistent contractions the previous couple of nights but nothing seemed to be happening that morning.  Paul had a week off of work that started this same Friday so when I got home the four of us went for a little walk.  When we returned I started having some contractions.  Paul had been doing some work on the computer and I told him he should probably shower.  While he was in the shower, I called his mom to come in to watch the big kids.  Right after I got off the phone with her, my contractions started getting more intense so I called Stef to come over until Ruth could get there.  Stef was at our house in less than 10 minutes!  We headed to the hospital at 11:30.  We got checked in around 11:50.  I saw a senior resident who Paul knew and approved of.  :)  However, her words weren't exactly what I wanted to hear!  She told me I was still dilated to 5 which was the same as my appt. that morning.  Therefore she said, "I'm not going to say that you're in active labor, but I'm not going to send you home either."  I was thinking, you've got to be kidding me!  I knew I was in active labor!  Anyway, she wanted me to walk around and said they would come check on me in one hour instead of two.  I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to walk around!  After giving it about 10-15 minutes, Paul called them back in.  I was now dilated to a 7 and ready for the delivery room.  I walked myself there and they assured me that my epidural would arrive soon!  I had asked for my epidural about two minutes after getting checked in!  haha!  However, after another 10-15 minutes I knew it was time for this little babe to come.  No epidural.  :(  This wasn't necessarily on my bucket list but it should have been, because I could have crossed something off!  Annie came after just 4 minutes.  Thank goodness!  and all was well!  And honestly, my recovery was a piece of cake!  

We were very excited for Ruby and Jace to meet their new baby sister!  Ruby fell in love immediately! Jace liked Annie but wasn't near as excited as big sis!  






My parents arrived that afternoon.  They stayed with Ruby and Jace at our house that night but had to return to Sibley the next day.  


Gary and Ruth brought Ruby and Jace to the hospital that afternoon.


Sydney got to come too!  





 We went home the next day.  Annie got to wear the same outfit that Ruby and Jace both wore home. 


Grandma LaDonn and Ruby made some welcome home signs for Annie!


And Annie had shopped ahead of time for her big sister and big brother and scored some points by getting them each a special gift!  ;)  



She's been a great baby, and we are so happy God gave her to us to love and protect!