comes with the territory...

Well the not so lovely part about being a postpartum mommy are comments like this coming out of my 3 year old's mouth... (she was so adorable and sweet about it though!) As she was pushing in on my tummy, "It's bouncy isn't it, mommy?"

And she keeps asking why my tummy is still big and I tell her, "It isn't!" And she says with a knowing smile, "Yes, it is!"

My hormones made me cry when she said things like that just after Annika's birth, but now as I try to explain to my cutie pie about just having a baby... I just smile and think she's just perfectly adorable.

not super blog-worthy, but fun!

So I had my first salon hair coloring experience this weekend! I had my hair highlighted for the first time, it turned out great! I was a tad nervous... to spend that much $$ and then not like it. But I love it, didn't go too drastic though, I got a few inches cut off too and some bangs added. Why not? I like things to change so I don't get bored, it had been way too long since I had a real hairstyle.

Uncle Sean here for a visit!

My big brother Sean is here from California for a week! He spent some bonding time with his new neice... she even gave him loads of cute smiles. My Dad, Sean and my cousin Tommy from Indiana are heading up to Arctic Man tomorrow morning. I love and treasure every moment I get to spend with my awesome big brother.

Uncle Sean being bombarded by the kiddos

Tommy and Sean

Easter!

Our smiley girl enjoying her first Easter.

We had a full and fabulous Easter Sunday. While my Mom was up for the month of February for Annika's birth, she made Morgan and Annika matching Easter dresses! What a treat! Here are my girls, looking super cute in their dresses.

Our day started at 5am! Yep, we're pretty crazy for getting the whole family up that early and heading to the Sunrise Service up at a freezing cold Hatcher's Pass, but it was so wonderful. After the service, which was a whopping 5-10 min., we headed to IHOP for breakfast with our good friends Kep and Rachel and their two little boys Parker and Noah. Baby Savannah was there too, but she was still hanging out in her mama's belly. She's due in about a week!

Then it was off to our Easter Service at church, then to Grandma and Grandpa Bacon's for lunch, then off to a super fun Easter Egg Hunt hosted by our friends Kathleen and Emily Dougherty! Our kiddos (and we) had such a great evening hunting eggs (200 to be exact) on their large open property! What a fun way to celebrate Resurrection Sunday!

Here are the kids beginning the sugar high that lasted a few days. :) They just finished off the last of their candy this week.

some funnies....

Here are some funny and sweet things the kids have said since Annika was born! Starting from Day 1... I've been writing them down. Enjoy!

Drew
(seeing Annika for the 1st time)
"Mom, she's so cute! Are you going to have another one when I'm still 7?" (He's 7 for 9 more months)

Gavin
(seeing me for the first time after her birth)
"Did they cut your tummy open?"
"No"
(making a horrible face) "Then how'd she get out??"

Drew
(after Jeremy praised him for being so nice lately)
"Yeah, but sometimes when I'm being good I miss my real self!"

Drew
"Can I see where she eats from?"
"No, but I'll show you on your body..."
(lifts his shirt) "Oh! Then why did God make men have those?"
"So we all look the same!"
"OH! Got it!"

Drew
(Annika was 1 Day old)
"Mom, so how do you feel now that baby Annika is born?"
"Well, I feel really tired and pretty sore."
"No, Mom how do you feel?"
"Well, I'm really tired!"
"NO! Mom, how do you feel in your mind?"
"Oh! I feel really happy."
"Me too. I'm so glad she survived and she made it through."


Gavin
"Mom, I didn't know you had milk in your lungs! When I get bigger, I'm gonna feed baby Annika with the milk in my lungs!"

Drew
I was having a hard day, took Mom to the airport, was having headaches, sleep deprived, etc... and was crying in the car and when we got home, Drew asked me why I was crying. Sobbing, I told him that it's just really hard taking care of four kids and that I was feeling kinda tired and kinda sad. So he helped me in and held my hand, carried my bags and said, "It feels really good to be helping someone!" Once inside, he said, "Mom, you've made it this far with four kids, you can make it farther! I want this to be your best day ever!"

Gavin
We were talking about the next time we were going swimming and he said, "Mom, next time I only want to swim in the cat pool!"
"What??? Oh, the kiddie pool!" (or "kitty" pool)

Gavin
(he is always trying to interpret Annika's every noise)
"Mom, she just said "I believe in God-y!"
and "Mom, she just said, "We have the same Mom!"

Morgan
Singing, "If you're happy in your nose, clap your hands!"

Annika is 5 weeks!

Here is little Annika showing us her new-found smile! She started smiling at us last week, and it is so much fun! I had forgotten how early smiling starts! She is a happy girl, and is a little peanut. She weighs just over 8 lbs! She had quite a drop in weight after her birth and is finally climbing back up! She's gaining like a champ now, though. And she's a great little sleeper, this Mama has been feeling quite rested in the morning. And I'm SO thankful!

Holding my two sleepy girls. It was a precious moment for me! And Jeremy just happened to come home in time to snap a pic.

The last two weeks have been great as a Mom of 4! I feel more like myself and Annika is into a daytime routine of sorts and taking care of the house, homeschooling, etc... are much more manageable! I'm treasuring every moment with my little newborn... I don't want her to grow! But I know all too well that every baby stage is my favorite. :)

Doing some backtracking...

Annika sure was spoiled that night!

The final side profile shot!

I wanted to post some pics of the fun baby shower that was thrown for Annika and I! It was held at Teeland's, a great restaurant/coffee house here in the Valley, while they were closed to the public. Teeland's, as you probably all know, was the first "general store" here in town way back when!



I was in early labor at the baby shower! It was a fun distraction to be hanging out with my good buddies during those first few hours of real labor. I would have much rather been there, than at home feeling that way! I was able to just relax through contractions and not focus on them. It was great to just try to ignore them, rather than focus on each one and how close together they were like I would have if I was at home!

What a fun night!

Smooches for Auntie

Jessica and Chantel

(don't forget 3 wk old baby Nathan!)

Rachel (due in April), Janeen (due, like now!), Jody, & Amber

Sarah & Jen

Mom, Janeen, and Jess checking out the spread.

My Top 5

Here's my "Gotta Have for Baby" list. Since I had Morgan 3.5 years ago, there is a whole new world of baby gear and products! Here are a few of my gotta haves, in no particular order! :)


1. Burt's Bees Baby Wash, Buttermilk Lotion, and Apricot Baby Oil ~ These products have been around for a long time, but I didn't have it with my other kiddos. Love them! (Thanks, Janeen for the yummy lotion!)









2. Swaddle Me Blanket by Kiddopotamus ~ Thanks to Anita Eller, (thanks, friend!) Miss Annika sleeps so well at night in her pink blanket.. it's a clever little blanket that velcros closed to keep baby cozy and sleeping! We love it so much, we bought one in yellow! (They have them at Fred Meyer!)





3. WeeAlaska J-Tai Baby Carrier ~ This is the best carrier I've used! The Baby Bjorn that I had with the other three killed my back! It's spendy, ($100 bucks) but well worth it! I only paid for a portion of it thanks to my Mom and a $$ gift from someone! http://www.weealaska.com/ If you live here and want one, they are available at Pitter Patter too!



We call it the "sleep inducer"! Within minutes of her being in the carrier, she's out cold!

4. Boppy Pillow ~ The old standby... I absolutely love this for nursing in the first couple months. It saves my back and leaves my hands free to read, knit, write a note, talk on the phone, etc... She likes to be propped up in it and lay there awake too!

5. JJ Cole Bundle Me lite ~ I love this carseat cover, and the print is super cute too! It's great for keeping the breeze out of Annika's face when we're loading up in the car! This is the one that we have.

Iditarod Fun!

On Sunday, my Dad, Jeremy and the boys took a trip out to the Iditarod Restart in Willow! They drove around on 2 of my Dad's snowmachines and had a great day! They even had official sponsor passes (my Dad's company is a race sponsor) so were able to drive right up front and catch the action in front of the barriers! What a fun memory made by all. The boys were sporting their new helmets too.. thanks Grandpa!

More favorites...

I just downloaded my Mother in Law's pics from her camera and have loads more photos of Annika's birth that I didn't have before. Here are a few of my favorites! Thanks, Anita!

Her first bath.

Meeting Auntie Jenny for the first time.

Mom, Jen, Morgan, and I at the baby shower just 12 hours before Annika was born!

The last two and a half weeks!

So the last two and a half weeks since Annika was born seems like an eternity ago, but yet it seems like yesterday! (I'm glad it wasn't!) Life has been crazy and I have had virtually no time to sit down and update this blog! I fall into bed around 9pm or whenever Miss Annika allows! We're doing well though and Annika is an absolute joy. She's as cute as can be and we are all enamored by her. Here are a couple pics of our first couple weeks together. She looks much different than she did in the first photos we posted of her. She has lost that swollen, newborn look! She has many of the same features of Gavin, we are finding!

My Mom has been here from Oregon, and that has completely saved me these past couple weeks. I was teasing her that my dishes are going to look like the Eiffel Tower after she leaves tomorrow! I haven't touched a dish in a month! Reality is gonna hit hard this week! She has been a HUGE blessing to us!

Here is Annika pondering her next meal.

Here she is, showing off her chicken legs!

I'll update again soon, gotta run! Annika is crying!!! :)

Days 2 & 3 with baby Annika

My sister took this picture just after we arrived home from the birth center. Annika was about 8 hours old and boy, were we tired!! Can you tell?? :) We were somehow functioning on ZERO sleep. It was Tuesday night, and we had been up since Monday morning.

Our little sweetie is now 3 days old! It actually feels like I delivered her days and days ago! I'm feeling great, and am SO thankful to be on this side of her birth! hee hee

Big brother Drew holding and snuggling his new sister. He is SO sweet with her.

Valentine's visitors! My buddies Tanya and Sarah came for a visit yesterday! (More pictures to come from our Valentine's cupcake decorating fun with Sarah's cute kiddos!)

Our last 3 days as a family of 6 have been great! Yikes! That sounds like a lot!
We are now... even more so... totally OUTNUMBERED! But... I have to add the disclaimer that my Mom is here and Jeremy has been home. I'll report back when she leaves and Jeremy is back to work like normal. :)

She's Here!

Meet Annika Scarlet back at home last night!

Baby Annika arrived yesterday, February 12th at 9:04 a.m.! She weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and is 20.5 inches long. She beautiful, just as we imagined she would be! There are more pictures to come, our camera battery was dead (oops) when we got it out of our bag to take pictures, but my Mom supplied me with some of hers and we'll add more as we get them!



It was a wonderful experience, wish I would have had the same with the other three! My midwife stripped my membranes Monday afternoon just hours before my baby shower that night. I was in labor at my shower, went home to try to rest, then things really picked up! We ended up at the clinic at 4:30 a.m. and she was born at 9:04 a.m. It went so amazingly well, I loved all of the options there for laboring. I spent time in the jacuzzi tub first, then on the birth ball, then on the bed, then ended up in the shower for an hour and a half until it was time to push! (little did I know!) Judi, my midwife, told me to try and stay in the shower until I couldn't stand up any more, and that's just what I did! Jeremy and Judi helped me back to the bed and I knew it was time to get her out of there!!! She was born 5 min. later. HOLY SMOKES, it was intense! It was SO cool though.

Auntie Jenny, getting her snuggles in before she flew home last night.

We stayed and rested through the day until about 3:30 p.m. and came home and slept SO well last night. (The kiddos are out at Grandma & Grandpa's house!) We're so thrilled to finally meet her. She's so precious.

Morgan hugging Baby Sissy for the first time!

Judi, my amazing midwife, here this morning for a home visit! She even brought me a dozen roses!

hmmm..

Now that I've reached my due date, I'm wondering what this little thing to the right of this is gonna say tomorrow? +1 day over?? We're due in: yesterday?

So no labor so far! My baby shower is tomorrow night, and we planned it that way so that my sister could come (she leaves Tuesday!) and figuring I'd have the baby last week like I usually do! But, I've recently thrown all expectations out the window. It's been a great lesson for me, a hard one, but a good one. I have so many starts of "labor" that I now think that I'll believe she's coming when I see her with my own eyes!

This is the first day that I haven't wanted her to arrive, because we'd have to cancel the shower with all my buddies! But God has a great sense of humor and a knack for teaching lessons, so stay tuned for it to happen in the middle of the night tonight! :)

just in case you were wondering...

I thought I'd give any of my far away friends an update on my still pregnant condition! :)

I am about 4 days from my official due date, and am ready to have a baby! It is frrrrrrrrrrrreezing cold here, I don't blame my little sweetie for staying put! It was -20 today at one point! BBBBRRRRRRR! But I did have an amazing prenatal massage this afternoon that was 1 hour long. It was so wonderful. She did the labor-stimulating pressure points on me to see if it would help things along at all. I've been contracting consistently since dinner about 3 hours ago, but I tend to do that all the time! I might have to be ready to push before I believe I'm really in labor when it comes!

So I'm at 2 cm, as of yesterday and am ready to roll when the time comes. My Mom arrived yesterday and my sister arrives on Thursday.

We've been in contact with my sis this evening, their town in Tennesee was hit by those tornadoes tonight. She said one rumbled by their house, they felt the shaking and things moving. So as of an hour ago, they were waiting for one more system to come through, then hopefully they'll be done. She said they've been hiding out in a central closet with bike helmets on the boys. :( Be praying for the Howells. Morgan prayed at bedtime that the "tomadoes" would stop and be put in a box. Well put, little one!