Going Home

Daddy and Baby Deacon taking a nap. Labor is so hard on them!
I think they are planning something here. It looks like they are communicating something and that scares me. In the pictures below we are getting Deke ready to go home. Tyler was so excited to help. He kept dragging the carseat all around the room waiting for Daddy to put Deke into it. He wanted to help so bad. We told him he could entertain Deke while Daddy got him strapped in. After we got him all loaded up, Ty rocked his carseat and sang "Rock a bye baby" to him. Then he wanted to help carry him out. He is going to be such an awesome big brother!

Welcome Baby Halle

Halle Kate Loos came into the world Sunday, July 27 around 8:30 this morning. She weighed 8lbs 5 oz. A whole 2.5 lbs heavier than Deke! Seeing those two together was quite funny. Jenna is doing great and Halle is very healthy. Our two children are only two days apart. Hopefully they'll be good friends as they grow up. Congratulations Mike, Jenna, and Kaia!

Baby Deacon

Here are the pictures of baby Deacon. He really looks quite a lot like Tyler did when he was born. Tyler was heavier though and had a little more flesh on his cheeks than Deke does. But looking at their baby pictures together, it would be tough to tell them apart. He is starting to act more like Tyler did, too. So far, I'd have to say he does sleep better. And I'm praying that will continue.

Introducing Baby Deacon

Well yesterday, Baby Deacon arrived, surpising us all. I thought for sure Jenna would beat me! I woke up yesterday with some mild contractions but they were pretty regular. I went to work anyway, praying that Deacon would arrive soon. I left work at 10:00 to go home, still not sure if I was in labor or not. Contractions were getting stronger and closer together, but when your water doesn't break, it is really guess work on whether or not you are in labor. Joel finally convinced me to go the hosiptal around noon.
We picked up Tyler and dropped him off at Steph's. When I arrived, they didn't admit me at first. I was only at 3.5 cm and contractions were mild (according to them, they didn't feel that mild to me!) They had me walk around the hosiptal for an hour and then checked me again. I was at 6cm and fully effaced. As soon as they admitted me, I asked for the drugs. Those contractions hurt!! Joel was great though, he would hold me close and rub my lower back which really helped. Around 4:30, I finally got something they call an intrathucal which worked wonderfully. That antheslogist (Fred) became my new best friend.
At 5:15, I was told that I was at 10cm and ready to push. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to feel to push, because I could not feel anything below my waist. Turns out I had nothing to worry about! As soon as Dr. Shelton arrived and told me I was good to go, it took one contraction and one push and Deacon was born. 45 seconds!!!! I couldn't believe it! No pain at all and it all happened so fast! He was born at 5:23 pm and weighed 6lbs, 19 1/2" long.
He has been extremly mellow so far. Very few cries, but that could change.
Tyler got to meet him and he was really good with him. He tried to share his trucks with him. We'll see how things go when we get him home.
Pictures to follow soon.

Jakob's Birthday

Tyler, Kaia, Jakob, and Conner all playing on the floor.
Kaia is the cutest little girl. She's also the only girl in our group so far. She's going to be a big sister any day now and then she'll have another little girl to play with. For now, she can hold her own with the boys though.
Jakob and Tyler chasing after the big bubbles that Daddy was making.
Jakob and Tyler. I just think this is a cute picture. Jakob looks so big next to Ty.
Tyler tackling Jakob. Jakob got Ty a few times too.

July 17th was Jakob's 3rd Birthday. His parents threw a party for him on Saturday. It was quite the party with four kids and several adults. Next year, we'll be doubling that number and there will be 8 kids, with four of them having birthdays in late July or early August. (depending on when these three babies decide to make thier appearance). We're definatly going to need to get a bigger space! The kids had lots of fun especially when we went outside and they started making big bubbles. Joel was really good at getting the bubbles to go and Jakob and Tyler had lots of fun chasing them and popping them. Of course, they also realized that they had lots of fun tackling each other. And fortunatly neither one of them got hurt doing this.

Happenings

Tuesday was hot and humid here, but that doesn't stop Tyler from playing outside. He played outside with Daddy and got himself very filthy. He had to show me how dirty he was when he got back inside. The tub was filthy when Joel finished bathing him.

Last night, Tyler spent the night at the Reed's. They will be taking care of him when I go into labor. I was a little worried how he would do sleeping. Steph told me this morning that he slept through the night and even slept in. He didn't get up until almost 8. He never does that for us, but then again they have three older kids who I think helped wear him out. Anyway, it is such a comfort to know that he enjoyed his time there and will do well while I'm in labor. I won't have to worry about him at least.

Today, when I got him home, he decided that he should feed the dogs. Maybe, he'll take over this chore and then the dogs won't go hungry. Right now, they're lucky if we remember to feed them. I finally had to tell him that he had fed them enough. Then he kept trying to make Java eat it which he was doing, but it wasn't out of the bowl that Tyler wanted him to eat out of. It's a good thing Java's pretty patient with him.

A boy and his dogs

The dogs are finally learning that Ty can be fun to play with. They have a ball that Ty will throw for them and then all three of them will go after it. Manny usually walks away with it, but he'll drop it so Tyler can throw it for him again. Java tends to hoard it when he gets it, but he's starting to get better as well at dropping it for Tyler to throw again. It's really great to see them playing so well with each other.

Today was a beautiful day, a bit windy, but other than that very nice outside. Tyler played outside with the dogs for awhile and then he had fun playing on his slide. That was interuppted when a huge tree limb fell down in the neighbor's yard. We heard a loud crash and then went to investigate it. Next door a huge branch had broken off and come down on some cars. We informed the people that lived there. I don't think the cars were hurt too much since the biggest part of the branch fell right between two of the cars. After that, we came in and Tyler took his nap.