It's been too long

It's been too long since I last blogged. I guess that's what 2 kids will do. But a quick recap, Kimball is growing so big, I think he's bigger than Harrison was. Harrison is still the greatest big brother, always wanting to play with Kimball. Knock on wood but he hasn't had a jealous moment yet. Kimball sleeps 8-10 hours at night.....HALLELUJAH!!!

We celebrated Porter's 28th birthday, Halloween, and just barely Thanksgiving. Halloween was really fun this year with Harrison. He was Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Porter's work had a Halloween party a few days before and that's where Harrison learned how to Trick-or-Treat so by Halloween night he was a pro!

We also moved houses Halloween weekend. It was a total pain but definitely worth it. When we moved on base last year we were put into a 2 bedroom house and at the time it was fine but after we had Kimball we wanted more room. So we moved into a 3 bedroom that was literally just 4 doors up from our old house which made the move easier. And thank you to the missionaries, we have 8 Elder's in our ward, who helped move the furniture. 

Thanksgiving was last week and we celebrated it with people Porter works with. We had it at our house and this year was the first year we actually "cooked" a turkey. Last year we got a precooked turkey and it was still really good and foolproof. This year we also got a precooked turkey but then Porter's work gave us another turkey (uncooked) so let's just say we're having lots of turkey sandwiches and turkey quesadillas lately! But dinner was fantastic and the company was really good.

The Friday after Thanksgiving we went to the National Harbor and saw them light their Christmas Tree. It was so fun. First of all it was unbelievably warm and even though it was pretty crowded both kids did really well. They lit the tree and had a firework show.

Great and now it's saying my photo space is all used up so I can't post anymore pictures!!! Help from anyone who knows how to fix this without buying more space. I've already added another admin and I was able to add a few more pictures but that's all.

Kimball

Today Kimball is 4 weeks already! At this point I figured we should head back to church so yesterday we got up and braved the 3 hours. Personally I think it should be a church rule when you have a baby you get at least a 3 month break, not necessarily from going but from your calling. Primary was somewhat of a train wreck. I don't know how I'm supposed to be running primary, doing sharing time, and feeding/taking care of a newborn. At this point it's Monday and Sunday is 6 days away so I won't start stressing until Saturday.
But this post is about Kimball. He was due August 4th but of course didn't come that day. My sister Megan had flown in the night before for a week to help mostly take care of Harrison while we were at the hospital so it gave us a nice weekend to swim and go to the farmer's market before he came.



                       



Well I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday the 7th but the hospital called me on Monday and said they were having a "slow" day and if I wanted to come in they'd get me started. I was thrilled, I was going to have a baby and not be pregnant anymore. I HATE being pregnant! So we got ready, packed our bags and headed to the hospital. I checked in around noon and said good bye to Megan and Harrison. I figured they'd come back later that night after the baby was born. So much hoping of not being pregnant another day. After being on pitocin all day they decided at 10pm that they were going to take me off of it, let me eat (thank goodness, I was starving!) and try another method. They did give me some morphine to help with the pain and to help me sleep. I hadn't had an epidural yet just because I didn't feel the pain was that intense yet.
Tuesday morning rolls around and they started me up on pitocin again. I'm beginning to get nervous because I'm progressing so slowly but the nurses assure me this is just part of the process and there's no need for concern yet. And when I say I'm getting nervous it's me breaking down emotionally because I've been in the hospital so long already and still no baby! Poor Porter had to deal with all the up's and down's but he really was so amazing. I was sure glad Megan was with Harrison, because with all my worrying at the hospital I had no worries that Harrison was ok because she was there. I ended up getting my epidural around 10am Tuesday. It was a better experience than my first time getting an epidural with Harrison but still on my top 10 list of things I don't want to do. I hate the feeling it gives you while it's going in, but I made it through and once it's in it feels great!
Around 3:30 they had me lay on my side to help with the labor process and shortly after I started feeling pretty strong contractions even with the epidural. After about an hour and pushing the "refill" button on the epidural I asked the doctor to come check me since I hadn't been checked in a while. And it was time, doctor's and nurse's were running in. I was in labor for 30 hours and the delivery was literally 3 minutes.

Kimball was born healthy and strong. Harrison loves being an older brother. He's constantly looking for Kimball and is always saying "he's cute". We have to remind Harrison that he's cute too!



            

                      


Harrison also thinks that anything Kimball uses he can use too, like his carseat, baby bouncer, and binky.

And for Kimball's baby pictures we rented a DSLR off the internet, what can't you get off the internet these days, and did pictures all weekend. By the time the weekend was over I was glad to be sending the camera back just because it's so stressful taking family pictures with a newborn and 2 year old. There was a lot of bribing and a lot of candy. Here are some of my favorites.

                        

                        

                        

            

   

                                 

Pre-baby sleeplessness

You always hear get your sleep before the baby comes but in reality I can't sleep, either because I'm too uncomfortable, or the 4 times I have to get up to go to the bathroom, or lately this miserable head cold that keeps me up. So I'm here venting about it.
Yesterday was a long day, I started having chest pains so of course the nurses tell you to go to the emergency room immediately. I honestly didn't think it was anything serious but might as well go just to be safe. And long story short (sort of) they said I should go to Andrews AFB emergency room instead of the hospital I've been going to for my prenatal care in Virginia because it was closer. Well Andrews doesn't have a labor and delivery unit so they ended up transporting me to another hospital anyway. And I was frustrated because we should've gone to the hospital I've been going to in the first place because they already had my information and who knows but I think the testing may have gone faster too. And after 7 hours of testing, poking, prodding, and monitoring they finally discharged me with all major things ruled out. So we're still just waiting for the baby to come.
One thing I did find kinda cool was they did an ultra sound to monitor the baby and they said he was 6 lbs. 10 oz. I don't know how they determine that but now I'm interested after he's born to see how accurate those estimates are. Definitely small than Harrison, he was 8.4, and his delivery was really quick so again I'm curious how quick a delivery it will be with a smaller baby. They also took some pictures of his face and he looks a lot like Harrison did when he was born. Although I'm really nervous for 2 kids I'm excited to meet this little guy soon.

Cottage 2012

 Another great year that we've been able to go to the cottage. Last year Harrison and I went by ourselves since Porter had to stay for school, but this year Porter was able to come! Harrison and I flew out at the end of June and then Porter drove out about a week and a half later because he had scout camp and then had to work a couple of days. It really was a great year! Harrison did get really sick one day, high fever of 104 but luckily it only last one day. I'm told it's not the cottage if kids don't get sick, but it's totally different when it's your kids who are sick. 

 

 
 

                   

He put this contraption together all by himself....haha!!

                       
         
                     

Hanging out at the Blue Water Bridge.....crosses from Michigan to Canada

                     
 

Measuring up

                                      
           
              
 
 
                       



                      

                      

                      



             

                     

                      

                      

                     

                      

We also celebrated Harrison's 2nd birthday at the cottage. It was so much fun to have so much family there, he really got spoiled with all the attention.

                      



        



                      

                      

                      

I know this is already a super long post but there was one funny story I had to include. So apparently Justin Bieber grew up about an hour from where our cottage is and one night, I don't know how, but we were heading to the movies and we got on the topic that he probably would come visit Grand Bend sometimes (this is where our cottage is). And I was so adamant that he would not come visit Grand Bend, population 1000, when he has all this money to go wherever he wants to in the world. This conversation was quite lengthy with everyone putting in their opinions about why or why he wouldn't visit Grand Bend. Well we get back from the movies and the big news is that Justin Bieber was in Grand Bend! He came in with his family and had some dinner at one of the bars on Main Street. We were all laughing our heads off because we had just had this huge conversation on whether he'd ever come to Grand Bend. No one in our family actually saw him so there's no way to confirm the story but my cousins saw his "batmobile" car parked on Main Street and the locals all said they saw him.