Tanner or Brody?

Taylor and Chloe are trying to decide if he looks more like a Tanner or Brody. What do you think?

Oh Taylor

I just wanted to write down 2 things Taylor has said recently so I don't forget them.

The other day she came running up to me and said "MOM! Dad's don't wear bras, they wear belts." Then she ran off.

And today I took her and Chloe shopping to the mall. She saw a group of teenage girls and looked at me and said, "Mom, when I'm 15 I"m not going to need to shop with my mother, I'll just go shopping with my friends."

Every night I put her to bed in normal pj's and every morning she wakes up with some weird outfit.......

Skipping naps

The girls have not wanted to nap lately, but they still need them. Can you tell?

Big Sisters

3 days old

The boys first encounter

Coby has put up with ALOT from Chloe and Taylor. It's finally pay back time. It's going to be so fun to watch these two together.

Little Brother's Birth Story

Talk about perfect timing. Everything happened exactly how I had imagined. Coby had been with my parents for about 10 days when I went in to labor. This was for 2 reasons 1)The girls were really sick with the flu and I didn't want him to catch it and 2)I was getting too exhausted trying to care for the 3 of them. I had had plenty of time to rest up over the last 2 weeks, thanks to my mom caring for Coby, our little ball of energy.

Last week the girls went to school M-Th mornings. On Thursday morning, which just happened to be my due date, I woke up at about 5am with mild contractions 15-20 minutes apart. I sent the girls off to school and started to get things ready to go. I packed up my bag and the things they needed for the next week when they would be with my parents. Most of the day I continued to have contractions anywhere from 10-15 minutes apart. Jake picked the girls up from school and I drove them down to my parents house in Silverton (which is about an hour away).

At 2pm I had an appointment with my Dr. He said it was hard to tell but I seemed like I was about 1cm dilated. After I left his office I started having contractions about 8 minutes apart. At around 5pm they started to get a little stronger and were more like 5 minutes apart. I called Jake and told him to grab the dog and come down to Silverton so he could help me get the kids to bed. He was able to work a full day and locked up the house and headed down. He showed up around 6:30.

We put the kids to bed right at 7 and then I decided to watch a tv show with my parents and Jake. About 10 minutes into the show the contractions were starting to get really uncomfortable. I hopped in the bath tub for a little while. At about 8:30 Jake and I decided it was time to head to the hospital. The contractions were about 2-5 minutes apart at this time and really strong.

We checked into the hospital and at around 9:00 the nurse checked me. I was 5-6 centimeters dilated at this time. The nurses called the doctor and got my room ready for me. At about 9:30 I walked over to my room and got in the jacuzzi tub. This really helped with the pain. I had been in the tub for about 15 minutes and the nurse thought she should check me again because it seemed my contractions were really strong and close together. I got out of the tub and onto the bed. She checked and said "oh wow I think you're fully dilated, I better call our on call midwife."

It took me almost 6 hours of heavy labor to get to that point with Coby so I thought she was making a mistake. She called in 3 more nurses and the on call midwife because my doctor had not shown up yet. They got the tray already for the baby and after about 2 more contractions I felt the urge to push. Right after the on call midwife put the delivery gown on my Dr. walked in. I had already pushed twice at this point. They didn't have time for the Dr. to get another delivery gown sent to the room so he just grabbed one of my robes that was hanging on the back on the bathroom door. It had little flowers all over it, but at least it was blue. :) So with the next push little brothers head came out. This boy was huge and he had really broad shoulders so it took me 2 more pushes before I could get him out all the way. He was born at 10:15 pm on his due date.

It was really intense and alot more painful than I remember with Coby. I had no drugs, not even a Tylenol in me. Although it hurt alot I'm glad I was able to deliver him without any medication. He was very alert when he was born, screaming his little head off. And Jake was SO happy when we found out we had another little boy. What a special moment. I had kind of a rough time after he was born, my body threw it self into it and it all happened so quickly that afterwards I kept having contractions and alot of pain. Ugh. I'll spare you the details. I was relieved that the hard part was over with, he was here with us, healthy and huge and cute as can be. His birth weight was 9 lbs 5 oz and he is 22 inches long. (Coby was 8 lbs 13 oz and 21 1/2 inches long). So he's just a bit bigger.

We have a daily routine, Jake works, I watch the kids, around 5 we feed them dinner, they all go to be around 7 and Jake and I watch tv or chill out until around 11 when we go to bed. This little guy just fit right into our routine. Instead of chilling out or watching tv we had a baby that night. Jake headed home around 11 to get to sleep so he could care for the kids in the morning. My mom stayed with me through the night to help with the baby. It's kind of hard to deliver a baby and then just go to sleep so I was up most of the night. And of course every 30 minutes someone came in to check on me or the baby, which makes it hard to sleep.

We stayed in the hospital for a day and half and went home to my parents house Saturday early afternoon. We wanted to head straight to Portland, but little brother had a high bili count so we had to bring him back to the hospital Sunday morning to get it rechecked. It was kind of nice the way it all worked out, it gave the kids a chance to meet their new little brother and I was able to spend a little time with them before heading home the next day. I'll post next about the kids first encounter with baby brother. I have it all on video, it's pretty cute.

My parents offered to take care of the kids for a week or two while I recover. They are off having fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house now with Aunt Anna and Great Grandma too. I know they're being well cared for and I get to relax and catch up on sleep with my little man. And of course prepare for the chaos that is going to come when we bring the kids back home and have 4 little ones ages 3 and under to care for. Life is good, we have our 2 little boys and our 2 little girls and finally our family feels complete. Well to Jake and I at least. Taylor asked us if we could get a real monkey for Christmas. :)


Look he fits right into our family......

Little Brother

16 hours old


Finally, someone to pick on!


First time holding little brother


Were hoping he does alot of this


Ready to go home

It's a boy!!!!!!

So here are a few details about the baby, birth story and photos to follow

1) he doesn't have a name yet
2) he weighed 9lbs 5 oz
3) he is 22 inches long
4) he looks a little like Coby but a darker version
5) he was born on his due date
6) he's really hairy, he has hair all over, arms, legs, back--like a hairy guy. :)

School Update

School has been a HUGE success. The girls really love it. And it's been great for Coby to have some one on one time with me a few days a week. They started out going MTW and we got a call last week from the school asking if we could send them on Thur as well. So now they go 4 mornings a week. It's amazing how getting them out of the house for just a few hours each mornings makes such a big difference. And so far they've stayed pretty healthy. They've been in school for almost 2 mos and each only been sick once. Coby used to cry everyday when they left but now that he realizes he gets to be alone with mommy he's happy to wave goodbye to them each morning. :) Here's 2 photos of them getting ready for school on Monday.

Taylor wants to wear this dress to school everyday, and these shoes.

And here Taylor is helping Chloe with her shoes. Soo cute!

Halloween 2009

Halloween was really fun this year. My parents, Jake and I took the kids to downtown Silverton to trick or treat then to a few houses. The girls were looking forward to it. They couldn't wait to go trick or treating. Coby of course had no clue what he was in for. I figured he'd throw a huge fit when I tried to put his carebear costume on. He hates wearing coats and his costume was like a giant fluffy coat. As soon as he saw the girls getting ready he ran over and got his blue costume and tried to put it on. He's really into being part of the group these days. The girls were a little shy at first trick or treating but they caught on very quickly. They were very polite and would say thank you after they got candy. Coby would run up to the doors and knock and them and when the opened the door he'd yell "bye-bye" and take off before he got his candy. I guess that was his "trick." Here are a few photos of Grumpy Bear, Cheer Bear and Sunshine Bear......

Baby Update

Only 4 days until my official due date! Still no sign of baby, hoping he or she joins us this week. The dr. thinks the baby is about 8.5lbs so hopefully he/she doesn't stay in there too much longer. We'll keep you posted. I'm glad the baby didn't come early because I had a great time trick or treating with the kids this year. Even Coby got really into it. I have a bunch of cute photos to share but my laptop is acting up so I'll have to load them on to Jake's computer. I'll try and post them by tomorrow. Hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!