Game Night

These kids love to play games!!

And now we have a new player!

Her Birth Story

Yes, it is late, 7 weeks and 1 day to the day to be exact. :) 

But I always love reading other peoples birth stories so I thought I'd share mine anyway. 

I also have yet to post her newborn pictures so it works out perfectly!

7 weeks with this little blessing, my goodness, time as just flown by!

I still remember Tuesday December 15 2015 like it was yesterday.

I was 40 weeks and 6 days pregnant, the longest pregnancy for me. I had a midwife appointment the day before, everything looked and sounded good and we had decided to make an appointment for an ultrasound on Wednesday just to check on the baby and then if she still hadn't come by Friday then I would go in and do a non stress test and maybe get induced if nothing was happening by then.

I got up the Tuesday feeling great, we had our normal morning, breakfast, cleaning, laundry and school. During school I got a call from the hospital saying that they had an ultrasound appointment for me that afternoon. It was the only one they had for awhile, so I made arrangements with Josh's sisters to watch our kids, we had lunch, I got ready and left for my ultrasound at 2.

I got in right away, and everything looked good until she wanted the baby to move for her, try as she might with poking and getting me to change position this baby was not going to move. She got me to get up and walk around, while walking I felt her move a bit but as soon as I lay down she was still again.

The ultrasound tec went to talk to the Dr and they decided that I should have the non stress done just to make sure everything was ok.

So I headed upstairs and they got me hooked up, and just like that the baby came to life! She wouldn't lay still! :)

After 30 mins on the machine the nurse came in and told me they had called my midwife to come in.

I wondered why, since everything seemed to be ok, but once Amy got there she told me that they had not been able to see the babies chest rise and fall while doing the ultrasound, so if I was ok with it they wanted to induce me and monitor the baby.

I was fine with the sound of getting this baby out, so I called Josh, he had just got home from hauling grain for the day, I told him where my bags were and he got ready to head out.

I was admitted to the hospital and Amy checked me, I was 1 cm dilated, this was at 4.

At 5 the Dr on call got there and she checked me, I was 4 cm dilated, that was just 1 hour after Any had checked me, so something was happening down there!

The Dr said that they use a cervidil, just to help get things moving, and I would have to be monitored for an hour to make use the baby was ok, then after that hour I could go off and just be checked every hour for 10 mins.

And so we started. I had not really had any contractions up till that point, by the time Josh got to the hospital at 6 I was having them but not anything really painful.

So waiting and walking began, whenever I was not in bed on the machine I was walking around the hospital room, this really helped the contractions to keep going, although they were not to bad till around 9 pm.
At that time they took out the cevedil and the contractions kept coming so we knew that things were happening, I was 8 cm dialated at that point.
As the contractions became more painful I decided to go for a shower, it felt amazing, as amazing as a shower while having contractions 1-2 mins apart can be. :) I stayed in the shower till 10:45 when I started to feel faint, Josh and the midwife got me wrapped in warm blankets and into bed drinking water in no time, and I started to feel better, at least in my head. :)
By 11 I knew that we were not far away from having this baby, so after being on the monitor one last time I moved to the birthing stool and at 11:20 Taylor Brianne was born!
She came out looking around and they had to make her cry just to clear her lungs, She was pink and beautiful! She had 10 fingers and 10 toes, and was breathing just fine!
We snuggled in the bed for almost an hour, she would nurse and then look around, trying to lift her head off of my chest! Those were very precious moments!
After the snuggles she got weighed and measured, 8 pounds and 4 ounces and 21 1/4 inches long.
There was a snow storm headed our way so even though it was late we packed up and headed home. So thankful for another healthy baby and that everything had worked out so well!
We are so thankful for our midwives, Amy, Cara and Lara and to the nurses who helped with the birth.

4 days later Josh's sister Megan and her husband Henry came out with pizza and a camera! :) Megan was ever so kind to get some really cute newborn pictures of our baby, thanks girl!!

1 Month

Back on the 15 marked 1 month that this little lady has been part of our family.

The month flew by so quickly!

It seems like she has been ours forever.

She has grown since she was born, from 8 pounds 4 ounces to 10 pounds, and from 21 1/2 inches to 22 1/2 inches.

But most of all she has grown in our hearts.

We love this baby so much and have enjoyed the past month to the fullest, even though there have been many long nights, she is flowing in her siblings footsteps and enjoys being awake at night. :)

Which in part is why this post is 8 days late! :)

But the past week of so have been getting better!

We are thankful for Taylor and cant wait to see what the next months and years have in store!

Christmas At Home

I didn't take pictures at our Christmas gatherings this year.

I fed and held and took care of my baby instead. :)

I did manage to take some pictures of our Christmas at home, she was sleeping for all of it. :)

We had Christmas at on the 22nd, Josh didn't have to haul grain that day and the kids didn't mind having it early!

First we all got in our morning Taylor snuggles..

And then unwrapping began.

Brendan got a bunch of Cars stuff, to say that he was excited was an understatement! After he opened it he was so busy playing that when we asked him if he wanted to open another gift he said no. :)

Andrew was hoping for a phone (?!?!) He got a camera instead and some books. The camera has not rested much since Christmas! :)

Kaylas trun.

A doll house! Hopefully her and Taylor will be able to spend many hours playing with it!

And this is how Taylor spent her first Christmas, cuddling with Daddy. 

Looking Back on 2015

The new year has once again come, and it seemed to come quickly!

2015 was a wonderful year!! So many memories, working hard and playing hard!

Here is a quick look at some of the things we did last year.

January: Josh and I went to sunny Florida for 1 week with some friends of ours.

It was awesome and I want to go back again as soon as I have the chance!

February: Josh and I celebrated our 6 anniversary, I am beyond blessed to be married to this man!

March: We started on this adventure, it took him a few months but he's an expert now!

April: we found out that we were expecting four 4th blessing. We were super excited!!

May: We celebrated Brendan's 2nd birthday with both families coming over. It was fun to have everyone together again!

June: We celebrated Fathers Day with these 3 great guys!

July: This Summer we were able to go camping a lot! We found a great campground just 40 mins from home and spent many weekend there. The weather was great and we had a lot of fun!

August: We started with harvest, which went very smoothly this year and we were once again blessed with great crops!

September: We gathered stuff from the garden and were busy canning and freezing what we had grown.

October: Digging up potatoes and carrots from the garden, and Mark and Rosalie took their annual trip down south so we were in charge of the farm for a couple weeks.

November: We celebrated Andy's 6th birthday

And Makayla's 4th birthday.

December: We ended the year with a bang, welcoming Taylor Brianne into our family!

We have been so blessed in 2015 and we cant wait to see what the new year has in store for us!

We wish you all God's blessings in 2016!