Here she is Isabelle Ann

Here she is the day after her birth

This is the day we got to take her home, Good Day.

Kaitlen loves "baby belle" she always says,"I see belle"

After five long days Isabelle's brother and sisters finally got to hold her they could hardly wait to get her home from the "stinky" hospital. (Samuel hated the smell of that place)

Thank you for everyones love, prayers and well wishes we appreciate it.

We've had a hard time

I'm not sure where to begin,  this has been the hardest and longest week of my life.  Last Friday, April 10th I went to my 37 week appointment and found out that my baby was breech I had a few options first try to turn her, wait and see if she turned on her own, or just schedule a c-section.  The only problem was that I had already been in labor for four days and was dilated all of this made things a little more tricky.  My contractions were coming to fast to just send me home and wait so we decided to try and turn her.  If any of you have had this done you feel my pain rather then call it a "version" they should just tell you that it is worst possible pain and  feels like your in some sort of torture chamber.   Well the turning didn't work and they were hoping that the drug they gave me would slow my contractions down so we could wait to take the baby later.  Unfortunately they didn't stop and got even closer so the next thing I knew we were on our way to the operating room.  

Isabelle Ann was delivered at 8:30 on Friday night she weighted 6 lbs 8 oz and is 19 inches long.  She was still to early and her lungs weren't quite developed so she spent 5 days in the NICU and since I had a c-section I was able to stay with her for 4 of those days.  As you can imagine this week has been an emotional roller coaster I went from a 37 week mom going to have a drug free delivery to a baby in NICU.  I've shed a lot of tears and said a lot prayers.  Funny how an experience like this makes you really appreciate the small things that I'd taken for granted before  like breathing, eating, and just being able to be in the same room as your baby.  After a week little Isabelle is doing really good she is eating and gaining weight.  We are hoping that she will only be on oxygen for one more week.  I am so grateful to have her here and can't even begin to express my thanks to our family who have helped us through this trial.  I know that the Lord does hear our prayers and gives us strength when we think we have none left.  We are going to make the long trip home tomorrow and I will post pictures then.    

April 15th!!

Can April 15th really be just around the corner??? Each tax season begins with mixed emotions on my part. I hate to admit it but I do actually like to work I get a certain sense of accomplishment to see a few paychecks with my name on them, however I typically let it consume me, if there is a tax return waiting to be done on my computer I drop everything to get it done. This year with a six year old, four year old, two year old, and being 8 months pregnant I knew that I could not go about tax season the way I used to. So work waited until 1:00 everyday; kaitlen took a nap and Savannah I went to work I set her up a little desk next to mine and she "worked" ie: art time. Work ended at 3:00 when Kaitlen woke up and I wouldn't work again until 8:00 when the kiddos were in bed. Despite the basketball that I have in my stomach it really has been my best tax season in 10 years! I loved having Savannah sitting next to me working on her projects and I must say she has gotten very good at drawing pictures. While I will much miss my tax season money and sense of accomplishment I am very very very happy that I won't be sitting at my computer for hours each day this babe gets more uncomfortable by the minute...... So until next year no more taxes.... except for any extensions that were filed..... :)

Kaitlens 2!

Kaitlen loved her "Birdy Party"(Birthday Party) and especially her "ba-yoons" (balloons) She even got excited about unwrapping clothes. She is such fun spunky little girl!

Hibernation

Up here in the Northern part of the state I have found that we hibernate for the long winter months. We see each other at church each Sunday and occasionally at a basketball game but for the most part we stay in our houses to keep warm, take care of sick kids, and.........well I haven't exactly figured out what else it is we do all winter? This weeks warm weather has finally melted the snow, brought the birds in from the south and chased away the bitter chill of the north. The streets and yards are once again filled with children's laughter, bike races, sidewalk chalk, and most importantly mothers on their front lawns visiting with friends picking up where they left off the previous Fall. It always amazing me how much the Spring weather and day light savings lift my spirits it seems to give me new life. I find myself cooking, cleaning and even changing diapers with a smile. I try to tell myself that I wouldn't enjoy the spring nearly as much if I hadn't gone through the long and dreary winter months, but to my friends who live in warm sunny places do you appreciate your weather all the time?? or does it just become something you are used to?? As for us up in the North we are happy as can be to be coming out of our long winter Hibernation!

Disappearing toes

7 weeks left to go and the toes are basically gone. Someone asked how the belly is going, well it is growing. I feel pretty good but boy I forgot how miserable sleeping is when you hit your last trimester. When I first got pregnant I thought wow 4 kids this pregnancy can take as long a possible cause 4 sounds a bit overwhelming but now I really am ready to be done being pregnant, I'm up at night anyway with numb ribs, hips, and an occasional Charley horse so why not be up feeding a baby.....

Limbs

This weather reminds me of one of my least favorite childhood jobs, raking limbs. Every year when the snow melted Lisa, Jesse and I knew that the winter rest from our orchard labors was over and we'd be back in the orchards starting off the season with one of our least favorite jobs, raking limbs. My dad would hire people to prune the trees and we were the crew that would go behind them and rake all the limbs out to the middle of the row so the tractor could scoop them up into a big pile to burn.

After we walked home from school we would grab a snack and head out to the big old orchard behind our house and begin. Lisa and I hated this job and tried everything we could to get out of it; it was cold, muddy and often times wet. We found all kinds of things left in the orchards from the long winter; dead mice, rotten apples from the prior years harvest, and sometimes even an old dead orchard cat. My least favorite part was getting whipped in the face or arms by the limbs. Now that I look back at it I feel bad that Jesse always had to be our Foreman keeping us motivated and working.....maybe that is why he is such a great dad now, he had lots of practise with me and Lisa. Funny that at the time I dreaded this job and now more then 15 years latter I look back on those times and smile and would love to be out in our orchard with my brother and sister raking limbs.