McKinley's Blessing

McKinley's blessing was a wonderful day, so full of family and friends. She seemed to know it was her special day and that everyone was there for her. Her blessing was very tender. It was wonderful. It was so nice to have all three of my brothers fly out to join in the blessing, it was special to me. My 90 year old grandma also came, which meant so much, she rarely travels anywhere anymore. She is going senile, so to have her here as well as the rest of my family was so memorable. I love my family. We flew in from Alaska on Wednesday, but our excitement to see everyone overcame our fatigue, although Anderson and Christiana show it in the pictures. McKinley was very sweet and well-rested considering all the excitement.

McKinley Maren

Welcome McKinley Maren!! Born August 2nd at 6:02pm 9 pounds, 21 inches. We are so excited to have McKinley here. She is too precious. She is such a wonderful baby so far. She sleeps and eats so peacefully. She came a week late, I wonder if the extra week in the belly helped her systems develop well, because she is such a happy baby. The delivery went well and my recovery is a hundred times better then with Anderson. Pushing for two hours and having a c-section is not fun!! This delivery I was trying for a v-bac. I really didn't want to recover from surgery again. I found a wonderful Doctor here in Alaska that offers v-bac, which isn't all that common any more. Hospitals also have very strict rules, so being in Alaska for this baby has been a blessing.

Since you can't get induced as a v-bac, going a week late was a little annoying since I either had to wait to go into labor naturally or schedule a c-section. The morning of the 2nd I started contracting at 10:00. Yay, being late is like Christmas morning every morning, with Christmas never there! The contractions weren't painful at all and I was going about the day as normal, calling family and just relaxing. Chris came home at 1 or 2 and the contractions started getting more painful. I went into my room and contracted for a few hours and then we called the babysitter to come at 4:30. It was heaven to contract at home. I contracted in the hospital with my other two kids and since my water broke prematurely with them I was induced and the contractions hurt. It was so nice to be at home with this baby and contract here. We got to the hospital at 5:00. I was in triage getting checked in when my water broke. The next contraction after my water braking was HORRIBLE. I asked for an epidural. The nurse went to call for my doctor and the anesthesiologist. While she was gone I had another contraction and started screaming, "help me, I'm going to throw up, I need to push". I knew I was toast. No epidural! So they RAN me to the delivery room and I was screaming my head off. I couldn't look at Chris. He looked liked I felt, terrified!! They helped me onto the bed and some random doctor came in. Between a contraction the doctor looked at me and said, "Screaming isn't pushing, it's not going to help your baby to come out!" I had to ask how to push again because I couldn't concentrate. I started pushing and my doctor came and a resident. The resident delivered the baby. I pushed for a half an hour, and had to push hard because the baby, like Anderson, was positioned the wrong direction. She came out face up instead of face down. Since she was 9 pounds and the wrong direction, the doctor said if I did have an epidural I most likely would have had to have a c-section again since you can't feel enough to push hard with an epidural. So, it was crazy to have a natural birth and it was hard, but I am so grateful everything went well. Having had epidurals, a c-section, and natural birth I don't really know what I prefer. They are all hard and wonderful!! Recovery has been peachy after this baby though and that is worth an hour of torture!!

We are so in love with our new addition to the family. It looks like she will have red hair!! Christiana is feeling out-numbered!!

One week till D-Day

I see why I get so many strange looks and comments, it doesn't look real!!
I can't believe we have one more week until we meet our new little girl. I am so excited. I know that as tired as I am now, things are only going to get more tired and busy!! I hope I will soak in all the newborn peace and craziness, cuz I know it goes so fast.

Just look at my little baby boy!! I can't believe how grown up he is getting. He in almost 21 months and is doing so many new things every day. He loves to play with blocks and balls and Barney is his favorite!! We are growing out his hair and it is curly and cute and sometimes CRAZY!! Love this little guy! His latest thing is when I tell him to "come here" he will say "comin" and run as fast as he can to me with one little arm swinging so fast.

Love his sweet face and smile!!

Christiana was on a soccer team here in Anchorage. She loved it and loves her trophy and metal. Her coach and team were so nice, we had a fun time going to games and soccer activities as a family!!
One Friday night we were playing outside at our friends house and Christiana got bit on the forehead by a mosquito. The next morning she looked like she fell out of her bed and got a horrible goose bump or someone punched her on the forehead. After her nap, it had spread down to her entire eye. She looked deformed, like Quasimodo. It was scary. I guess it happens here to kids a lot and there isn't anything to do, but let time pass for the swelling to go down. She was never in pain, she only didn't like it when she couldn't open her eye. There really aren't any mosquitos in AZ, so her little body reacted pretty strongly. Our friends had seen this happen here to kids, but never quite this swollen!! Needless to say, we now spray down with bug spray!!

Yes, the low torpedo is still true to form, even on the third round!!

Christiana put together this outfit!!

One of the best things about being in Alaska is we get to see Chris's brother and sister-in-law and their six boys every three weeks or so. I love them and their family. Their boys are so sweet and they are all such good people. It's been so nice to get to know them. I am feeling sad Suzie is with them right now and we can't make the 7 hour drive because of my time-bomb torpedo!! More good times to come, I'm sure!!

I hope he feels this way about babies a week from now!! I think he will be so sweet. Let's just hope he doesn't carry his new sister around when I turn my back!!

This trail is right by our house here. We live in a forest and it is beautiful. We went walking there on Saturday and saw many enormous trout in the river. Pretty amazing!!

This kid loves Jammies. He asks to put them on and cried at our friends house when their baby got into her pajamas and his weren't available. These are a favorite pair!!

They had a free kids fish day about a month or so ago. It was a beautiful 40 minute drive between gorgeous mountains and the ocean. It was a bit rainy but we had a great family adventure. Smokey the bear was there and Christiana was terrified of him. She thought it was a real bear that she's heard us talk about here. It was fun!!

What a cutie!!

Alaskan Adventure

We are in Alaska for the summer, and it is beautiful!! The kids and I have been here for a month and it has had its ups and downs, but it has been a good experience so far. We are having our third baby here this summer in Alaska and I almost booked a flight home when I found out how much more expensive it is to have a baby here. Luckily, we have fairly good insurance and I was able to find a great doctor. The doctor and the hospital are a mile from our apartment, so I feel like I'm in great hands!! It's always hard to leave home and adjust to a new place, but I feel like I've adjusted and I'm enjoying our time here. The kids have loved it since almost day one, it's been harder for me to adjust. Our apartment is a furnished two bedroom apartment. It is total 70's, but it's clean and very homey. We are very comfortable here. I love that we have a cleaning service every two weeks, it's fabulous to have that taken care of, especially being 7 months pregnant. The landlords live upstairs, they are an older couple with no children and have been very nice and understanging of us and our little ones. The landlady invited me to come up every other Thursday for a women party called "Stitch and Bitch". I went last Thursday and it was an experience. It was like Enrichment with quilts being made for the hospital, lemon vodka, red wine and cheese. They were all very nice old ladies and were very concerned that I would appreciate Alaska!!

It's been a little cold, but it is warming up and everything just turned green!! It was crazy to get used to the sun going down at 11 and waking us up at 4, but we put cardboard in our bedroom windows and we've gotten the swing of it. It's nice to see the sun so much!!

Chris was here two weeks before us, finding an apartment, car, learning about roofing and playing with his friend. Luckily we missed all the snow, it was just on the ground when we came. Chris was here for a few blizzards.

The chapel we attend is in the same parking lot as the Alaskan temple. It is the only temple in all of Alaska, so many Alaskan members travel many, many miles to attend. I feel blessed to be so close! Christiana was so excited to get on the plane to go to Alaska. She helped motivate me to pack and make the journey without Chris's help. She had to sit in the car an hour before we left to the airpor, she was so excited. She was a peach on our three different planes.

We were on the same flight with Michelle from the Bachelor. She was very nice and offered to help me with my two kids, gear and big belly.

We bundle up to go to park, which was an adjustment after leaving beautiful April Arizona weather. It's warm enough now to ditch the hats and the jackets are coming off most days. Summer weather here is going to be perfect, especially after four Arizona summers!!

Most Saturdays we have gone somewhere fun, this is a hike 20 minutes away, it was fun to have the kids run up and down the start of the trial.

Our friends invited us to an Eater egg hunt with a lot of young families. Everyone was and has been so nice and friendly to our family.

I forgot to get pictures of the kids before church on Easter Sunday, so this is the best we could do after Church.

Christiana and Anderson decided to use some balloons to try and look like their mama. Christiana thought this one up all on her own. It's sad that it is close to what I really look like.

We visited Chris's brother Mark and sister-in-law Maren and their six boys. We had a fabulous time. We didn't get too many pictures because we were having such a great time talking and getting caught up after three years or so. It was fun to see Dr. Mark come home in his army gear.

Christiana and Jonathan!!

Christiana and Aiden!!

We like to chill in our apartment and on a few cold days the kids like to veg!!

Christiana helping me make cookies!!

Anderson is getting so grown up, he is such a fun and helpful boy!!

We have a park right next to our apartment. It is fabulous to go and play every day!!