Miss Heidi

Has it really been 3 weeks? Wow. Our little Heidi Alice was born at our home on Wednesday, August 10 at 3:10 am. It was such a beautiful, peaceful birth. No, it wasn't easy, but it was so amazing and so worth it. Abram, Mum, and Molly were with me, along with Tami, my midwife, and Donnette, Tami's assistant. And Whitney was in the living room with the boys, who stayed up most of the night, excited to have a fun cousin to play with! I had such a wonderful support team, and I couldn't have asked for or imagined a more perfect birth experience.

Heidi was 6 lbs 12 oz (my smallest baby so far), but has already gained close to 2 pounds. Her cheeks are filling out and she's starting to outgrow some of her newborn clothes. She has hair as red as Elijah's, and I think her eyes will be just as blue.

Abram helping me during contractions. (That's Tami, my awesome midwife, next to us.)

Enjoying the water and my family between contractions. (Thanks, Molly, for taking all the pictures!!)

The perfect water birth.

Proud Pappa.


Weighing in with a clean bill of health!


Elijah and McKay loving on little sister! (And after three weeks they still won't leave her alone.)

Our beautiful babysitter. (Thanks, Whitney, for being so awesome with the kiddos!)

And our beautiful daughter.

(Heidi: Don't swaddle me, I've had my share of being squished into a ball!)


But I do love snuggling...


We did it! She's here! And she's beautiful, healthy, and very, very loved.

Beautiful Garden

Abram should be really proud of this gorgeous garden. What a blessing to have it. And TODAY I ate my very first cherry tomato out of the garden! YUM! All warm from the sun... I am looking forward to more! Left to right we have corn and pumpkins, green beans, watermelon, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, beets, cilantro, dill and salad greens.

(You can click on the picture to see it bigger)

I forgot to say, "Thanks that I'm 4 now."

Wow, our firstborn is now 4 years old! And he reminds us daily how neat it is that he's 4. And during his prayers (even blessings on the food) he often thanks Heavenly Father that he's 4. Today he asked a blessing on our lunch and as soon as he finished, he asked McKay and I to close our eyes again because he forgot something. He said another quick but sincere prayer, "Thanks that I'm 4 now...."

Happy birthday, our fruit-loving, adventurous, fun, happy, creative, artistic, intelligent 4 year old with an incredible memory and ability to make each of us happy. We love you so much!




4 years old now.

Wow, little bro. That's a pretty big shark mouth you're making!

Hmmm... but I'm 4 now. Bet I can do better.


Wow! It really is neat that you're 4 now!

Cold, stormy camping trip

Our most recent camping trip was coooold, stormy, and adventurous. When we left our tent to go fishing, it was hot and sunny, like it had been since we got up in the mountains the day before. Soon after we got to the lake a HUGE storm suddenly came flying in. We hid in the trees until the lightening calmed down. Then Abram went fishing in the heavy rain and caught us two brook trout, which we roasted on a rock by the fire we started with flint and steel. When the rain let up to a drizzle we hiked back to the truck and drove back down to our camping spot. The dirt (clay) roads were wet and slick. We got back to camp and the heavy storming came back. I have never seen such lightening anywhere but Minnesota before. We spent most of the night in the pickup truck cab with the boys, watching lightening 360 degrees around us: Flash, Boom, Flash, Boom, non stop for hours on end. It was amazing. And, yes, kinda scary. Anyway, here are some pictures of the boys enjoying the snow piles before the storm came in.


And our hero that kept us fed and warm during the storm.

SUMMER!

I know it's not technically summer yet, but it has turned into summer here. By 9:00 this morning the boys had shed their clothes and turned on the sprinkler. I made them put on swimsuits and they had too much fun!

Camping while we can

We thought we'd better get in some camping before this tiny person in my big tummy makes her big arrival.

The boys found some fun things to do and we had a nice time. They built this little fire pit all on their own - dug the hole, gathered rocks for the edges, and filled it with sticks and pine cones.





And we didn't camp anywhere NEAR water. Too scary this spring!

Spring adventures

Now that the morning sickness has subsided (for the most part) and the weather has lightened up (for the most part), we're having fun adventuring as a family.

We went fishing over the weekend and had such a nice time just relaxing and playing in the mountains most of the day. It was BEAUTIFUL up there. McKay trying his luck in the stream:

And Elijah giving it a go (no, he's not wearing pants. They got wet. But we did have a spare pair he put on shortly after the photos were taken):

This is Mamma fishing with McKay two years ago:

And Mamma fishing with McKay a couple days ago:

Happy Spring! Hope you're finding fun stuff to do, too!