More Kaia!

Sisters!

My sister in law, Laura, and my parents in law and all the cousins came down last Sunday to visit with Kaia!

Grandpa Ralph with the 2 littlest: 3 month old Hudson and 4 day old Kaia!

Ralph with all of his grandchildren!

Carmen and Ralph (if you can find them!)

Oldest cousin with the youngest :)

Hudson and Kaia...what a difference a few months make!

Gunner bonding with Ava, who is now the 3rd youngest!

More sister love :) It's magical!

Sophia took Kaia "camping." Not Kaia's favorite!

Our friends, Stephanie and Travis Nelson, came over to visit on Monday

Kaia with their daughter, 5 month old Lilly!

Over the last couple of days we have just been nursing... trying to get back to a normal groove... Kaia had her 1 week appointment today and she's in the 90th percentile for length and the 50th for weight! Sophia continues to be an amazing sister, and Travis and I are getting the hang of things so much faster this time around. Things aren't all sunshine... we're gearing up for moving out on Oct 27th and that's a bit stressful, and I lost my grandpa yesterday. We definitely have our share of challenges... but also more than our share of joy.

Meet Our New Daughter!

 My water broke at 1:30a.m. on Wed, Oct 3. I wasn't feeling regular contractions, so I called the hospital and begged them to let me try walking at home, which they agreed to. When Travis came home from the night shift at 3:30 I was cooking tortellini and cleaning! Then I started walking... at 7pm we dropped Sophia off at her school and went into the hospital! I was 3 cm dilated, 80% effaced and having contractions 2-3 min apart at that time. After a few hours my CNM broke the bottom of the amniotic sac (I had a high leak and she wanted to try breaking the bottom so the baby would come down and put on some pressure!). A few hours after that I started having very hard contractions and, again... back labor! My worst contractions started around 3pm. I went from 6cm dilated to 9cm dilated in about 20 minutes! I pushed for 19 minutes, and then finally held our new baby!

 I am so lucky that this birth was such a great experience. YES it was INCREDIBLY painful, but I didn't have a single needle in me (not even an IV!), no interventions other than breaking the amniotic sac (which was no big deal), and I didn't even tear. My CNM was amazing! Very calm and supportive and made this such a wonderful experience. I felt so conscious when this baby was born. I held her immediately and cried with joy!

 Travis cut the cord!

 Our new BIG little girl! 8 lbs, 4 oz... a whole 2 lbs, 2 oz bigger than Sophia!

 Sophia was waiting with her grandparents and aunt as I gave birth. We thought that Sophia might attend the birth, but decided it was too scary. I have one thing to say about my pushing: it involved lots of roaring! Pushing a big baby out in 19 minutes takes a LOT of power! Right after the birth Travis brought just Sophia in. She was excited to press the button that plays the lullaby announcing a new baby.

 Grandpa Ralph bonding with grandchild #9!

 Grandma Carmen... Carmen and my sister in law, Lindsey, drove to Fargo/Moorhead in the morning and stuck it out all day waiting for the new baby!

 I can't tell you how proud Sophia is. She is already such an amazing, attentive, doting big sister!

 New baby with her Aunt Lindsey (sorry to keep saying "baby"... as of this posting we still haven't settled on a name!).

 This girl is FEISTY! She was up ALL night, and nurses constantly.

 

She's so beautiful and perfect... we feel so lucky!

Autumn Pictures Overload

 Here's another 9 months pregnant belly pic for you!

 On Sunday the 30th of Sept we went for a long family day hike at a local park that has miles of trails. It was so beautiful, except the temps climbed to 85 degrees, so by the time we left we were all stripped down as much as possible and were a bit sweaty and crabby! We really enjoyed the day nonetheless... I'm getting very sentimental about our "last time" family activities, as a family of 3...

 The doggies LOVE this park. Casey "accidentally" got off his leash and came back muddy, covered in burrs and with a big, doggy grin! Charlie doesn't get the hint... when we take him off his leash he keeps putzing around right next to us!

 We did a short hike and then a picnic and then a long hike.

 Sophia's chocolate-chip cookie face!

 Casey and Charlie waiting patiently for the next hike

 These trails are just beautiful! No, the leaves are nothing like Vermont's... but some points must be awarded for having mostly flat hiking trails! Haha

 Things started heating up... the girls were over dressed.

 Sophia's solution for feeling sweaty and crabby? A ride on daddy, of course!

 We just had the best time exploring every little thing Sophia wanted to check out and just enjoying the day!

 The mighty Red River is practically down to a creek after the long summer drought!

 There are lots of nice benches along the interpretive trails, and Sophia decided they were stages for belting out school songs! See the post below for a video :)

 We always enjoy visiting the teepee someone made. For some reason Sophia calls it "the Teepee Torture" and we're supposed to chase her in there and tickle her to death. Too silly!

 Back at home and after a good nap Sophia went back into her princess mode!

 This cat deserves an award!

 Sophia wanted me to take pictures of the "horse and baby show" that she set up last night.

One of my coworkers gave us a teddy bear for the new baby, but also thought that Sophia should get a present so that she wouldn't have hard feelings about the baby... Sophia didn't look twice at that teddy bear and has worn these wings every day! Now she's in a "butterfly phase!" She's also in a "maple leaf phase." She has a basket of maple leaves in her room and collects them on every dog walk.