Introducing Taryn Margaret

We finally have our baby! We have been waiting for so long. Here's our story of how Taryn finally came to be with our family.

I was expecting this baby to come at least a week earlier than her due date because each of my other girls have come progressively earlier and Aubrey was a full week early. Also, Aubrey came quickly. With her I started having contractions at 5:00 or so (just a couple hours after I had had an appointment); and we were headed to the hospital at 11:00 that night and she was born about 1 or so in the morning. I just assumed this baby would follow that pattern since it is my fourth kid and all.

So with my due date as October 15th, I had an appointment scheduled for October 6th and I thought this would be the day. I'd have my appointment, go home, contractions would start and I'd have her by that night or the next day. Well, she had her own plans. At my appointment my doctor said I was moving along and she even said maybe she'd see me in the next couple days. In my mind I was thinking, I'll see you tonight! So I went home and I did have some contractions but by that night they had become so sporadic I wasn't even trying to keep track of them. Friday came and that night I had about an hour or two of regular contractions but I ended up falling asleep and they weren't bad enough to keep me awake. Over the next couple days I would have random contractions but nothing regular. I would go to sleep hoping that that would be the night I wake up having full-out contractions. This was becoming more and more frustrating because it was nothing like any of my other kids. With all other three I would start having contractions and they would progressively get harder and faster and we would eventually go into the hospital and I'd have a baby!

By this point I was hoping for anything to move this labor along. I was looking forward to the weather front that passed through and then to the full moon that came, but still no baby. By Wednesday, October 12th, I was sadly convinced that I was headed to another doctor's appointment which was scheduled for Thursday. I at least had the reassurance that my doctor would give me some answers: either to tell me I was progressing well or to at least schedule an induction date. At my appointment, she did both. She said I was then dilated to a 4 (I was a 2-3 the previous week) and she said I would be favorable for an induction if needs be, so I was scheduled with the hospital to be induced Monday morning (at 4:30 am!!) if I didn't go into labor before then. I left super excited because I had an end in sight. I would have this baby no later than Monday morning, October 17th.

Luckily, my contractions after that appointment started up again and finally they didn't stop. By that evening, I was not able to sleep, and I was making Tyler time them for me. By 2 in the morning, they were pretty regular and at 2:30 we headed to the hospital. Unfortunately, the contractions were not as bad as I remember them being when we were headed to the hospital with Aubrey, and sure enough when they checked me at the hospital, I was still only a 4 and the nurse could tell my contractions weren't "too bad." The on-call doctor suggested that I walk the hospital for an hour to see if my condition changed, and I was a little saddened because that's what I had to do with Abby, my first, so I was feeling kind of let down, that I was a fourth time mom and I was being asked to walk like a first-time mom. But luckily during that hour my contractions got really bad so I was admitted to the hospital around 5 am after our hour was up; I got my epidural and I was ready to have this baby! My doctor was actually at the hospital during our hour walking, but to let us rest with the epidural, she didn't come to break my water until almost 9 am. And Taryn was born at 9:45 am on October 14th (only one day early). So without further ado, let me introduce Taryn Margaret!

She weighed 7 pounds 11 ounces (same as me when I was born) and was 20 inches long.

Our first picture with mom, dad, and Taryn.

The nurse made three extra copies of Taryn's footprints (as seen above her head). One for each of her big sisters to have as their own. We thought that was really sweet of her to do for them.

Before leaving the hospital, we took some pictures of Taryn at one of their photo kiosks and they turned out so cute!

Finally, a picture of Taryn without a hat so you can see all her dark hair - a feature all of my kids have had that I love.

The big sisters and daddy bought the stuffed giraffe for Taryn which they brought when they came to visit. I love having the picture to show a size reference so as she gets older and bigger we can remember she once was as small as her stuffed animal.

After she finally got her first bath, they brought her back wearing the standard hospital hat but with a cute bow.

The girls were visiting when Taryn got back from her bath. They all wanted to hold her. This is the first picture of our four girls together.

Abby has been an awesome helper and a great big sister.

Once at home, the girls still beg to hold her. Here's a favorite of mine because Taryn has her eyes open and because Tessa is so adorable.

Aubrey even loves to have her turn holding Taryn. When she does, she sits and stares at her and says over and over, "Hi, baby Taryn. Hi, baby Taryn."

This is how you can find Taryn most of the time - asleep. At least she likes the blanket I crocheted for her.

Tyler's parents drove out as soon as they heard Taryn was born, so they arrived the night after we returned home from the hospital. We loved having them here. The other girls REALLY loved having them here too.

I thought this picture was so funny because all three girls have their eyes closed. :)

Tyler has said that his favorite part of the newborn stage is having them curl up into a ball and sleep on his chest. I caught a picture of this and it's now one of my favorite pictures ever.

And I thought her outfit was too cute not to take a picture with her in this pose.

And finally a picture from today. She's 12 days old. Love this little bundle of joy. Welcome to our family, Taryn. We love you!

Catch Up Post Before the New Baby

So I've meant to blog every month but here it is October and I haven't blogged since the end of July. I'm (hopefully) days away from our new baby being born so I figured I'd better get one more post in to catch up the last couple months before the blog is dominated by new baby photos. So here's a random array of pictures from the past couple months:

Before the end of the school year last year, we went to the circus. The girls liked it (except for some loud noises which they still talk about), but these pictures were on my phone instead of my camera so they never got downloaded. Tessa wanted to ride a pony but once she was on she wasn't so sure about her decision.

I thought if Tessa had a hard time there's no way Aubrey would do well on the pony, but she begged to take a ride and she actually did well, riding by herself and everything and seeming to enjoy it.

I decided to have a pregnancy picture around 7 1/2 months. It's blurry since Tessa took it, but you get the gist. Aubrey had to be in the picture and show off her belly too.

Tessa started gymnastics class at the YMCA in September. She loves it! We had a hard time the first 10 minutes or so of her first class where she was too scared to participate; but once they were allowed to run and jump around, she decided it was going to be fun. She's been loving it ever since.

They do circuits on the mats, the balance beam, the bar, and Tessa's favorite the trampoline. She picks up new things quickly and is really having fun.

Over Labor Day weekend, we took a mini family vacation down to the Houston area to visit our friends the Bakers. Last time we lived near each other, they had two young kids and Tyler was still in Optometry school. Our families have definitely grown! It was so fun to catch up with them and the kids had a blast together.

We went to a fair they had in our town and surprised the girls without telling them we were going until we pulled into the parking lot. They were so excited. We only rode a couple rides, but the carousel was one of the favorites. I couldn't ride anything in my pregnant condition so Tyler got to be the designated adult since Tessa and Aubrey were too little to ride by themselves.

After Tessa got over her fear of the rides, they finally rode a motorcycle ride together and decided it was the best one.

This is Abby's first day of 1st grade. I only got a few pictures of her as she walked out the door and then they sat on the camera for weeks. She still loves school and doesn't even mind the fact that they have to wear uniforms.

Tessa and Aubrey are home with me all day. Luckily Aubrey is old enough now that the girls play together well. Dress up is still among the favorite things to do.

Grandma's house has the perfect ledge in front of the fireplace that the girls love to use as their stage. This particular day we had wardrobe changes so we had to get multiple pictures.

Finally, last weekend the Air Force Base in our town had a free air show so we took the girls for an afternoon. As we parked and walked to where everything was, we got to watch some of the airplanes doing tricks in the sky. The girls thought the trailing smoke shapes were pretty cool.

They had some pretty cool planes on the base where we got some good photos. The girls loved it all until the very end (see below).

They had lots of jump houses and other free activities for the kids among all the booths and vendors. We had to stop for a picture by the Geico gecko because he was so cool.

In doing so, they talked us into signing up to play their game for the girls to get a free item, and look who stopped by to be in a picture with the girls:

The real Geico gecko!

This was our last picture of the day, however, because about 5 seconds after this picture was taken, the first jet took off for the air show right next to where we were. It was just downhill from there because it was too loud for the girls. Tessa cried and had to be carried the rest of the time with her ears covered and her face firmly squished into Tyler's shoulder. Abby and Aubrey were luckily content with just covering their ears as the jet screamed past over and over. It was really cool to me and Tyler, but there was no more stopping or taking pictures after that. We just walked back to the car and finally got the girls to look one last time for the jet when we were far enough away that it wasn't so loud anymore. But overall it was a good activity and the girls talk about it fondly, so it was definitely worth the trip.

We've had a fun summer and beginning of the new school year. Now we're just anxiously awaiting this new baby girl to join our family. We'll keep you posted...

Summer Fun

I can't believe the summer is almost over. Just a couple more weeks and school starts again. We have stayed busy this summer mostly with swimming and fishing. Here are the highlights of our summer so far:

With a swimming pool in our backyard, we swim almost every day. The girls needed new swimsuits and how could we pass up matching swimsuits when they were only 5 bucks each?!?

We couldn't!

Tyler has gotten into fishing and has been multiple times this summer. A couple kid fishing rodeos got him and the girls started. Abby has enjoyed going with him once they found the right lakes and the right bait. Abby really likes catching fish, and luckily we all like eating it too.

Here's the haul after one of Tyler's fishing trips.

Tyler and Abby took a trip to Utah and fishing was one of the main events. Abby wanted to catch a rainbow trout and here she is with the one she caught!

We took a trip over the 4th of July weekend and went to Hurricane Harbor and a Ranger's Game. It was a long day but we had lots of fun. Once Aubrey got used to the little kid slides, we couldn't keep her off them.

Abby and Tessa preferred the bigger kid slides. Abby went on all four colored slides and loved them all.

Tessa only went on the first two, but after a bad experience on the yellow slide, she stuck with the blue one, even if the lifeguard had to help her out of the pool.

Being pregnant, there weren't a lot of rides I could do anyway, but having my parents and brother and sister-in-law with us gave Tyler some buddies to ride the big rides with. The girls and I hung around the kiddie areas and had a blast.

We went to a Ranger's game that same night and saw them win 15 to 5. The girls enjoyed it; at least they enjoyed all the food we could buy from the vendors walking up and down the aisles.

We also got to see a Fireworks show after the game. Tessa slept through the whole thing, but the rest of us thought it was so cool and well worth the wait.

The girl's love when Tyler gets to swim with us - especially because then they can do their fancy tricks. Only Dad knows how to throw them way up in the air just right.

Taking lessons and swimming practically every day has turned the girls into little fish. Abby loves to swim in the deep end complete with jumping in and doing cannonballs.

We love summertime and swimming!

A Look Back at Kindergarten

Abby has completed her first year of school! She actually attended two different schools this year with our move in the middle of the year. The week before she started school, she tried on all her new outfits. This was her outfit for the first day of school complete with her new backpack and lunchbox. She was very excited for school!This is a picture of Abby's school taken while I had to wait in the long line to pick her up after school every day. After about two weeks of this, Abby began riding the bus and it was so much better for all of us.
She kept a brave face on that first day of school, but you can definitely see the nerves in her eyes. I thought the difference between this picture and the first one of her trying on clothes (the week before school) is such a contrast; it's cute.
Here she is in her seat in her classroom.

This was Abby's outfit for 50's day - which was celebrated on her 50th day of Kindergarten.
On Abby's last day before moving and changing schools, we finally got a picture of Abby with her best friend from school, Emma. Here is Abby's class in the library on her last day. I like how Emma's hand is on Abby's leg - so cute. Everyone kept saying they were sad that Abby was leaving.

Especially her teacher, Mrs. Steffen. Abby loved her teacher and Mrs. Steffen loved Abby.

After leaving JKB, Abby wrote a letter to Mrs. Steffen and her class about her new school. Mrs. Steffen had the entire class write letters back to Abby which she loved getting in the mail and reading all the names of her old classmates.

Abby started her new school mid-January, but I didn't get any pictures until about her last week of school. Here she is with her new BFF (as Abby wanted me to type it), Ella, during their Field Day. It rained that day so all the activities had to be held indoors.

They rotated between all four Kindergarten classes for different activities. In the last class they went to, they ate smore's while sitting in the "tent" and singing songs.

Here is Abby with Ms. Vinson, her 2nd Kindergarten teacher for the year. Even though Abby was only there for the last half of the year, she became quickly involved in her class making lots of friends and staying on top of all her learning. She was even among the top 3 readers in her class at the end of the year and was rewarded with a special lunch with the librarian with all the other top readers!

Here are some of Abby's closest friends, Ella and Claire, after their Kindergarten graduation ceremony.

Here is Abby's entire class after the graduation ceremony. We videoed the entire presentation and have watched it multiple times. Abby did a great job singing all the songs.

Sometimes I can't believe Abby is about to start 1st grade, but as we read books each night and as I see how helpful she is around the house, I can't deny the fact that she's growing up! She had a wonderful Kindergarten experience and we are all looking forward to more great school experiences as we continue along.

Congratulations Abby!!