Happy Easter!

We had everyone over for an easter egg hunt. That is Emma and Ty as well as Dylan on the trike.

Sammy is 2 months old

Samatha is 2 months old...

OH, the trials and tribulations of being the youngest of 4!

A Weekend Away

With the help of my parents and a wonderful connection from thier friends, I was able to treat Chris to a weekend away to Carmel. Some friends of my folks offered them thier house on the coast for a weekend and, knowing that I wanted to take Chris away, they invited us along. Chris and I celebrated the completion of his Masters Degree as well as our 10th anniversary...and just, well, a much needed break from the stresses of reality. We had incredible weather and the chance to have an uninterrupted conversation. Mom and Dad watched Sammy while we went for walks and had a nice dinner, it was GREAT!

Strike a Pose!

I asked my friend, Jen Bell, if she could take some pictures of the girls now that there are 4 of them and we are complete! She did such a fantastic job and here are some of her in action. Thanks Jen!

The finished product!

The Girls get Haircuts!

Addison and Tessa have been bugging me for quite some time now to cut their hair. We had been trying to grow Addi's out to give to Locks of Love. Unfortunately it was just getting too hard to manage, so I gave in and let my mom cut her hair.

Then Tessa was begging me to cut hers too. Well, she still had baby hair. It was down to her bottom practically. This was a BIG deal for me! But I finally gave in to her too.


Here are the results:

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!