Pics from Cali

FALL

WHERE'S ALLIE?

Fall Fun

Allie loves Fall because she can jump in leaf piles, throw the leaves that I raked up, drink hot chocolate. The biggest reason why she loves Fall is because that means snow is on the way. Can she really be my daughter?

Nerdy 30

Allan is the big 3-0

Allan had a birthday and turned 30! 30 on the 30th so I decided to surprise him by having his sister and her family and his mom join us at our house for a nerdy 30 party. Let me just clarify that having a nerd party was actually his idea. He thought we were going to do something at his mom's since his sister's family was coming up to watch conference but we changed the plans to make it somewhat of a surprise. If you search for nerd party games online all it comes up with is to play video games so we didn't really play any games it also said to decorate with science and math things so I decided to let the kids play with vinegar and baking soda with watercolor paint and that kept them entertained for literally 2 hours. Now that kind of science is cool. We went through an entire bottle of vinegar and that's when we had to stop since there wasn't any left. It was fun to watch how excited they got over it so if you're looking for a cheap way to entertain your child this is it.

1 month old

sleepy little guy

3 weeks down & first day of preschool

Family Photo
August 28th, 2011

It's now been 3 weeks since our family has grown and it's nice to be able to say we've survived. Allie has been a very big help with Kendall and is very loving and gentle with him. She likes to feed him his bottles and even stops after awhile to make sure he burps. She has also tried to make his bottle for him when he cries even if he just ate so I have to keep an eye on that. The last bottle she made was quite watery. The first little while she was having a few melt downs but really I think the biggest issue was the lack of routine. She was going to bed much later than usual and then throw in the whole idea of having to share mom and dad and that made for some pretty big tears. Thankfully we have been able to get back on schedule and she has been doing much better which also means that mom and dad have been doing much better as well. Kendall is a very good baby not that you can have a bad baby but he does have his schedule and sticks to it pretty good. He eats every 3 hours pretty much on the dot. He has been sleeping pretty good at night too (knock on wood) there has only been a few nights when he's decided that he didn't want to go back to sleep after eating at 2:00 in the morning. At his 2 week appt. He weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz. and was 21 3/4 inches. He'd gained a pound and grown 1 3/4 inches in 2 weeks. Crazy boy already had a major growth spurt. The dr. said that he must be a good eater (which he is) because he's growing faster than normal. I guess most newborns grow 1/4 of an inch each week not 3/4 like he did. Maybe that's why he has an extra feeding during the day when compared to the guidelines for formula fed babies. All in all we are doing good and loving the new addition to our family.

First Day of Preschool
September 7th, 2011
I love the pose. I can't take pictures of Allie now without her either doing some type of pose, making a really cheesy smile, or not smiling at all and giving me the evil eye. She has been "patiently" waiting for preschool to start again. There's a group of moms from our church that take turns each week doing the preschool. It's just one day a week, but Allie loves it so much. She can't wait until she gets to go to "real" school though and that will have to wait another year.

Welcome to the family Kendall

On August 18th, I had an appointment with my dr. for my 38 week check up. It was also the last appointment before my scheduled c-section which had been scheduled for the 24th (you have to be 39 weeks before they will do a scheduled c-section). Allan decided he wanted to come with me to my appointment just so he new what the plan was going to be for the following week. We were also going to go to lunch with his mom after my appointment. Allie and I went and picked him up from work all covered in oil and grease and went to my appointment. I didn't tell Allan at the time but I had felt a little dizzy waiting for him in the car but it went away so I didn't worry about it. As we were sitting in the waiting room I got up to get a magazine and the same thing happened I sat back down and told him the room was spinning. Again it went away and I wasn't too concerned. They called us back and took my weight and blood pressure (part of the joys of being pregnant) and the nurse said "huh your blood pressure is high today". It had been a little high the week beforeand I went up for a non-stress test, but everything was fine. Baby looked good and my bp went down while I was laying there. At this appointment my bp was 160/94 I guess this was a little more concerning to the doctor since Allan told her I was feeling dizzy in the waiting room. So she looks at us and tells us that since I had a couple high bp readings and with being light headed we were just going to take the baby out then. Allan's first thought was she's joking but then she continued to tell us to go up the elevator to the 2nd floor and she would call to let them know we were on our way. i think I was still in a little shock too since I had planned for the weekend to finish getting the baby room together, pack a bag for allan and I at the hospital, get a bag for Allie to stay with my sister and Allan's mom, do the dishes that were still in the sink you know all those things that you think you have all the time in the world to do. Allie also looked at us with a panicked looked because she was concerned with seeing blood and now the dr was sitting there telling us he was coming out right now. We assured her we would call Grandma to come get her so she wouldn't see anything. We went out called Allan's mom to tell her we weren't going to be able to go to lunch and could she get Allie. Thankfully she was able to take the rest of the day off of work. I called Erin to let her know what was happening and called my mom to tell her I was having a baby. The dr had told us that since I had eaten breakfast the anesthesiologist wouldn't do the c-section until later probably around 4:00 or 4:30. So that's what I told my mom.
We went upstairs got hooked up to the baby monitors, but then about 4 nurses came in to draw blood, start an IV, take my history and one gave Allan some scrubs. We were thinking he could run home quickly to pack our bags fast and come back before anything would happen. Erin had been in the area and so she was able to come in to see us I thought it was funny that Colby laughed at the fact that I was in the hospital bed. Another nurse came in and asked him if Allan needed scrubs he said no he already had some and she said well you better get them on we're going soon. We asked how soon and that's when the anesthesiologist came in to get me he said he would just give me some stuff so I wouldn't get nauseous from eating breakfast and we were going to go in right then. It all happened so fast I didn't even get to call my mom back to tell her. We went back, I got a spinal block laid down and they had Kendall out at 12:32 (just 2 hours after my appointment). He was 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 20 inches long. That was the same length that Allie had been when I had her at 37 weeks but a pound and a half heavier. I think I was still in a little bit of shock because I just kept thinking but it's not the 24th and I'm not ready but there he was our handsome little (big) boy, Kendall Bruce Erickson, had joined our family.
Allie was so excited she even got to help the nurse give him his first bath later that night. Kendall tried to give us a little scare he wasn't really eating and he was kind of turning a gray color so they did a sugar test which came back low, borderline needing to go to the nicu for an iv of food. They ended up putting a little iv in his hand they could draw blood from so they wouldn't have to keep poking him since they had to keep checking his levels. They were able to get him to eat a little and the pediatrician said they could hold off sending him to the nicu and just keep trying to get him to eat. Thankfully he did and began to look better. Each feeding he started eating more and more so they were able to take the iv back out and we were able to go home on Saturday.
And that's our crazy story of how we went to a check up appointment and came home with a baby. I told Allan that maybe that's what the excitement of going into labor is like. You never know when or how long it will last. It all just happens.