First day of school- Take 1

Jarren started 2nd grade this last week. He was so excited for the first day that he told me he was afraid he wasn't going to sleep very good the night before. He really seems to like his teacher, although in all honesty, I think he'd really rather have his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Atkisson, again. He tells me every day that he sees her or he talks to her. I think it's so cute that he likes her that much, she really was an awesome teacher! (I'm hoping Maya will get her next year).

Maya and Karli start school this next week, so their pictures and experiences will be coming soon.

Halle's First Photo Shoot

I don't like to have my kids pictures taken professionally until they are a few months old, however, I don't like to wait to display a picture of them for that long. So, I just take one at home and have it enlarged. Today was the day to try and get a good one of Halle. Here are some of the results.

Bowling

Our family went bowling a few weeks ago and the kids LOVED it! It was Kate's first time and she even liked it too. Usually what happens is we get about half way through the game and all the kids have lost interest, but they didn't this time. Jarren was very excited because he got a strike. And while we were bowling he asked, "Mom, why is real bowling so much harder than bowling on Wii?"

Jason was the official helper. He did a great job!!

Kate was pretty excited about her experience with bowling.

These girls are the best of friends!!

She's So Little

I still can't believe how little Halle is. And she seems especially small when I see her in her car seat and her chest clip and buckle are almost touching.

Halle Jo!

Let me preface this post by saying that you all get a guest blogger today (a first time blogger, I might add), while Andrea is resting up in the hospital for a couple of days...I hope I can do this post the justice that it deserves!

Let me get the answers to the most common questions out of the way first...Halle Jo was born on Monday the 17th at 9:08 am. She weighed in at a hefty 4 lbs 13 oz and measured a respectable 17.5" long. Similar to what you see on most basketball rosters, I think the nurse may have been a little generous on both her height and weight (a little exaggeration never hurt anyone right?). I guess if you count the length of her hair in her height she would probably measure out to nearly 19" inches. She is doing fantastic after a couple of minor complications that keep her in the nursery a little longer than we had hoped for. But, luckily, despite her small size, she has overcome those issues and is handling things very well. She is doing fantastic!

Now about Andrea....I feel like I can't accurately tell you how she is doing without providing some background information. Having gone early with all of our other kids, Andrea and I both expected Halle to follow suit and come sometime this week, which would put her between 37 and 38 weeks. So, early Monday morning (around 4:30), Andrea got up with one of the other kids (bless her heart...dad just sleeps right through everything!) and noticed that the baby wasn't moving. She ate something in hopes of getting Halle to move, but nothing happened. So after talking to her doctor, they decided to have her come in and check things out (around 6:30 am). After hooking her up to the fetal monitors for a bit, the doctor noticed that Halle's heart rate was dropping and that the placenta (I hate that word) had stopped doing its job, but Andrea's labor, or lack thereof, wasn't progressing. Much to Andrea's dismay, he ordered up a C-section to be performed as soon as they could numb her up. I got a call from her that said "I need you here now" followed by a phone call 2 seconds later from her doctor telling me what "I need you here now" meant. I walked in the OR just in time for them to start the c-section...about 2 minutes later, Halle was born! So, there's the background...

So how is Andrea you ask? I hesitate to comment on how Andrea is doing because there is really no possible way for me to understand how and what she feels. My first reaction to that question, is that she is doing quite well. But, having never been sliced open like that before, I'm 100% sure that I would grossly underestimate the pain and "discomfort" (to say the least) that she is feeling. But, at the risk of being silently mocked by all of the women who read this that have had a c-section before, I am going to take a stab at it. From my own personal observation, she appears to be doing fairly well. Since she hasn't had a C-seciton before, she is trying to get used to not being able to move around and do everything for herself like she has done in the past. Not being able to have Halle in her room until today took a toll on her as well. But, once she got to hold Halle last night for the first time, it seemed like everything was just perfect! There is nothing more genuine than seeing a smile from ear to ear on your wife as she holds her baby for the first time. I'll be honest, I was a little worried about Andrea....until I saw that smile. From that point on, despite the pain, I knew that she would be just fine. Anyway....Enjoy the pictures!

Vacuuming the Grass

I thought these pictures were too cute! I came outside to see Jason mowing the lawn and Kate trying to mow the lawn with her toy vacuum. And Karli, she just looked cute!

Fishing

Last week Jarren and Jason decided that they were going to go fishing at the end of the week. Well, it was the talk of the entire week. Jarren talked about going to the store on Tuesday to buy a fishing pole and supplies. Then he talked about how on Thursday they were going to practice casting with their new fishing poles. And then Friday was the big day! Jason and Jarren woke up at about 6am to try and catch a few. When they got home Jarren was SO excited to tell me that he had caught 2 fish and Jason hadn't caught any. He then told me that he had caught his fish with hot dogs. The power bait that Jason used hadn't worked, but obviously hot dogs were the trick.