First Month with Samantha

I can't believe it has already been 4 weeks since Sam was born! It feels like she has been in our lives so much longer than that! Here is a quick update of our first month together as a complete family:

We had Sam on a Saturday and on Sunday I underwent surgery for a tubal ligation. I wasn't prepared for the recovery and so it was pretty slow going for the first 2 weeks of being home. I was able to deliver Samantha as I had wished, which was to go completely natural with no medication. I'll admit, I'm sure glad I decided to do it this way on my 4th-and LAST- baby...the epidural is sweet relief! I'm not sure we'd be celebrating 4 babies if it had been the other way. All that to say, we had a great labor and delivery experience with the help of my doula, Bonnie Masten, my mom, Kim and Chris all in the delivery room. Everybody played a part in helping me relax and focus on the goal: delivery a very healthy baby girl.

Upon arriving home the girls had made beautiful cards and had decorated the room. I had so much help from Chris and my family. It was a bit overwhelming to go from a "quiet" room in the hospital with the only interuptions being the pesky nurse taking my temperature and pressing on my very sore tummy to 3 lively girls jumping all over and around me asking so many questions all at the same time. I couldn't think straight so Chris lovingly took them on many outings to give me some peace and rest.

Here is the sign that Addison had made for Sam. She taped it to the wall right above her crib-SO CUTE!

The other day I walked into my room and found Tessa watching over Sam. What a great big sister she is. :)

Samantha's first sponge bath was a whole family event. All the kids crowded into our little bathroom and watched as we made her all soapy and smelling good. The novely wore off pretty quickly. They only stayed for the first 5 mins...I guess it wasn't as exciting as they thought it would be.

For now we have sort of settled in to a routine and as I type this update, Sam is sleeping in the sun on a beautiful warm California afternoon....ahhh naptime. I should be sleeping too.

Thanks to all you wonderful friends and family who have prayed for us, supported us, sent gifts, made meals and watched the girls. We love you and couldn't have done this without you! Well, I guess we could have, but I wouldn't be sane typing this right now and it wouldn't have been as lovely an experience. :)

So here it is the day before Valentines day...Plenty has happened in the past few months without much updates here to show for it! For those of you who have been following our family through the blog, I apologize for my lack of updates.
As it is...I am past my due date with Baby Sam, and tho she is showing signs of being ready, we are scheduled to go in to the hospital tomorrow to get things going. She will be our Valentines Baby! We are very excited and the girls can not wait to add another sister to the family. Chris and I are excited to have the last missing piece to our family puzzle. We will be complete :)
We covet your prayers over the next couple of days and trust that all will go well. Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers up to this point. We are blessed with a close, loving family and such wonderful friends.
We will keep you updated in the days to come...I promise :)

The slide show above is a recap of some of the pics over the past year. What a year it has been! Lots of changes, fun adventures and we are excited about new beginnings: a new job, a new family member and lots of new memories to make! Happy New Year everyone!

Girls Night Out

FINALLY, a nite for ladies only! We got to celebrate with my friend, Jessica McGowan the other night for her birthday. It was a Ladies only playgroup-daddys stayed home with the kiddos...and boy did we have a blast. It was nice to get dressed up and relax with some girlfriends, even if all I could drink was water. Here are the pictures that I CAN show :)

Don't ask...

Dancing the night away...the birthday girl is in the middle.

Kamryn's 2nd Meet

Kamryn had her 2nd meet on the 11th. This time the weather was beautiful and thankfully the pool was still heated. She was nervous going in because she was afraid she'd not finish the backstroke on her back...but with some encouragement and her determined focus, she did great!

(She's on the end in this picture)

She competed in the same two events (25m freestyle and 25m backstroke) and actually beat her best times. She took 5 seconds off her freestyle (6th place) and 8 seconds off her backstroke and ended in 4th place.

What was so neat to see was her interest in the sport and what was going on around her. Between her events she would watch the other swimmers and keep track of thier times. This was with no prodding on our part. I think she has really found her niche in swimming...so far she loves it, and never complains about practice or meets. It's great!

We have a new cousin!

My brother Jason, and his wife, Leah, just welcomed their first daughter into the world! Eden Eleanor Pauls. She is so beautiful, and the kids just ate her up! Everyone had to have a chance to hold her. Pretty soon she'll be running around with the rest of them :) Poor Ty, besides his older cousins (Kilian-12, and Shepard-15), he's the only young buck around.

By the time it was Tessa's turn, Eden had had enough!

Pumpkin Patch

I love Fall! Why? Because the pumpkin patches open up and it is picture taking season at it's best!! Another tradition I have started with my friend, Dorina Gilmore and her daughter Meilani, is to go to the Pumpkin King Pumpkin Patch on a Friday before it gets really crazy. This year they invited some friends of thiers too. This day was actually a super hot day, something like 90 degrees and the kids were feeling it. We actually didn't stay very long cuz we were so hot, but we got in a few good pics.

Kamryn turns 7

Kamryn turned 7 on October 7 this year. I've started a new tradition (I LOVE traditions and will start them with just about anything) this year with bdays. I love birthdays and I think that the birthday girl/boy should feel EXTRA special on thier day. So the night before, I spend decorating the house and hallway with streamers and balloons so that they wake up feeling special. I started this with Addi's bday in August, and now Kamryn's was no different (Chris is begging me not to do this with Tessa's too...cuz he thinks she won't know the difference at 3, and it is a lot of work). :)

Kamryn woke up to a brand new bike...

and a new swimsuit (crazy to find one in October!).

Her theme this year was pumpkins, so everything was orange and black.

We celebrated with a few friends and had a wonderful time doing crafts, playing games and enjoying the beautiful weather outside. Even the adults got in on the fun!

Kim even made pumpkin cupcakes...

The night before her birthday, we also made cookies for her class. All in all, it was a pretty great birthday for the "birthday girl!"

Kamryn's 1st Swim Meet

Kamryn had her first swim meet at Clovis East on Oct. 4th. She did GREAT, but she was a bit nervous. We actually were too when we saw the dark clouds and showed up to a windy, COLD and rainy pool! We were totally unprepared for what we were in for. We saw families (who were lifers) roll up with tents, chairs, parkas, umbrellas, coolers and blankets. We showed up with....Kamryn. Luckily the pool was heated, and pretty soon, she jumped in to do warmups. The pool is 25 meter lengths. In practice they warm up with 2 laps (there and back). She warmed up with about 10 laps. She was exhausted and her legs and arms were shaking!

She did really well, competing in the 25m freestyle and the 25m backstroke. She came in 5th place in the freestyle, and unfortunately she turned on her stomach with the backstroke and was disqualified....all in the learning.

We were very proud of her and I think she enjoyed it. It was interesting seeing her go through the nerves and yet, being determined enough and focused to go through with it anyways. She's a real trooper. Way to go Kamryn! (but next time I'm bringing a hot thermos!)

Cross City Race

Chris and Ericlee ran the 10K (6.2 miles) in the cross-city race 2 weekends ago. Dorina, Meilani, the girls and I got up at 6:30 to get to the race and cheer our daddy's on!


You can see our morning eyes...



We ended up 'chasing' them...driving all over town in our girls ONLY van to try and find the guys. By the pure hand of GOD, we found them and screamed and cheered from the van..then raced back to see the finish. We missed it, but they had a great finish!


To his surprise, Chris got 2nd place in his age division! Not bad!

2 38 CHRISTOPHER SCHULTZ 404 35 Fresno 43:39

They had great time!!
Way to go DADDY!!

Saroyan Olympic Carnival

The first big event of the year at Saroyan was the Olympic Carnival. My dad, sister Kim and her kids and the girls and I walked over to the school for a bit of fun that evening. We did the cake walk and enjoyed the beautiful evening.

As you can see...Kamryn is my character!

Mamma Field Trips

My friend Jessica McGowan has been so great about getting little field trips organized for a bunch of us moms and kiddos on Fridays. A couple of weeks ago, we had a tour of Whole Foods and learned all about the store, the kinds of foods they sell, and what makes them so different from a regular grocery store. We got to taste and touch so much. It was very informational, and a yummy place to be :)