1st Day of School

Today was Austin's first day of school. He's a big 1st grader this year going all day long and bringing his own lunch. We went to "Meet the Teacher" last Thursday and out of the 5 or 6 first grade classes only a couple of kids from his Kindergarten class were in his new class...and they were both girls. *sigh* He was a little nervous about that. We found his classroom and his teacher, Mrs. del Valle, was at the door to greet him and told him there was another Austin in the class! And what do you know...right behind us was the other Austin. I don't know if it was the name connection or what but they just hit it off. I was left to fill out papers by myself while they explored the room, played paper, rock, scissors, and were starting to play a mean game of hide and seek when we had to go. It was so fun to watch him get out of his comfort zone and meet new people. I was proud of him and I wasn't worried one bit about how today was going to be after I saw him in action that night.

Fast forward to today. We all made sure we were getting ready by 7:00 am. I know that's not very early for most people but after a nice long summer break and with a newborn, believe me...7:00 can feel pretty darn early! We had breakfast, combed hair, and made his sack lunch with a few "extra fun" things like a juice box and cookies (he knows he won't be getting these every day. Only for special occasions.) He requested a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which I was all too happy to make for him. He also wanted carrots and grapes. I forgot to get grapes so he had an applesauce instead. So easy to please. Then of course we had to take the first day of school pictures outside and off he went with Dada. It's so nice that Tory can just take him on his way to work every morning. When he came home this afternoon the first thing he said was, "It's too easy!" I told him the first week was just getting to know all of the new stuff and then it would get harder. He said it was really fun though and he liked it. So I guess that's good news!

Dallin was quite sad this morning after Austin left. What was he going to do without his buddy? I got him and Coen busy coloring and soon they decided they wanted to make another big poster for Austin this time. That helped get his mind off it and before we knew it the day was gone! Time flew! And let me tell you...naps were glorious without Austin. LOL He was just too old to take them, couldn't manage just a "quiet time", and usually ended up playing in his room with the lights on and waking up Dallin every single day. Ugh. Saturday he took his last nap and when he woke up I said, "Austin that was your very last nap EVER! Can you believe it?!" He said, "That's good. I really didn't enjoy it at all." Funny boy. Some day...just you wait! So today was wonderful! I got them down by 1:00 (usually they go down at 2:00 but I have to move it up so they'll be done napping by 3:00 when we pick up Austin.) and not one sound or one person came out of their rooms for over 2 hours! We're back on schedule! I did miss my little Austin though. He's such a good helper and so good with his little brothers. But I can see this will be good for Dallin. I asked him to help me with something while he was playing and he didn't miss a beat and looked over his shoulder to call out, "Ask Austin to do it." Hmmm...a little too used to having a big brother to do all the dirty work I'd say! I told him Austin was gone and that HE was the biggest helper now. He smiled and got up more willingly then. Oh boy!


**Just for fun...check out last year's pictures to compare! Not only has Austin gotten a lot bigger but so has our Jasmine! But our grass! Yikes! You can tell we've had a HOT, HOT summer this year! (Oh, I guess you can't see our grass in this year's pictures. That's a good thing! LOL)

Some Cuties

Just a few cute shots of the kids.

Look at that chubba bubba! I don't think she'll be wearing the "newborn" size onesies very much longer! Only 3 weeks old!

Austin and Dallin having fun outside.

Coen and Claire

Austin and Dallin are obsessed with the Eiffel Tower. We watched a documentary on PBS a few weeks ago and ever since then they can't get their minds off it. Here is Dallin with his Eiffel Tower made out of blocks.

Pictures of the Kids

Here are the pictures of the kids I took for Tory's birthday. I printed it in B&W but I've included the color version, too. Wow! Was that ever a hard picture to get! First of all it took some serious bribery to get the boys into their church clothes on WEDNESDAY! Second, it has been raining every single day since Friday and trying to keep the boys dry looking was quite the trick! And third, it was actually sprinkling (just a tiny bit) while we were taking these! We had to sneak out fast while there was a "calm" in the storm. Claire didn't like it one bit! It may look like she's asleep but Austin will tell you otherwise! At least we came out with a good one. Whew! You definitely need a team to take pictures of 4 kids together!

Happy 30th Birthday Tory!

It finally happened. Tory has joined the rest of us "cool" people in our 30s. Although I had good intentions and lots of plans for the day, things didn't work out as I had planned. I've had a little setback in my recovery and for the last week I have hardly been able to walk or even stand. This really stinks since I've been totally pain free since day 5! I don't know what it is or what I've done but the last couple days have been a tad bit better which is good news.

But anyway, the kids and I were going to surprise Tory and bring some cupcakes to work. Needless to say, that didn't happen. But it turns out it wouldn't have worked anyway because 1) the van had a flat tire and 2) Tory still had Claire's car seat base in his car.

I sent a list with Tory so he could pick up some stuff for his cake and dinner at least. I did manage to make him a Rocky Road Dessert Pie. Check out the recipe on my food blog! It's quite the treat. The recipe is from my sister Heather. Mmmm....For dinner we had Sloppy Joes, potato casserole, and green beans. Then a friend from church brought over a pumpkin pie! Dessert anyone? We've got plenty!

Of course I wasn't able to get to the store to get any presents for Tory but he did have a couple things that had been ordered online and the boys and I (and Claire! Wow! Got to get used to more than just boys around here still!) did a photo shoot this morning while Tory was at work. Now I just have to get a frame to finish it off. The boys also had fun coloring a Happy Birthday poster to hang on the door.

I hope he had a fun day. I know it didn't turn out like I would have liked but I think we were still able to pull off a good party at least. Plus he got lots of free time to play his computer game with his new mouse and headset. LOL Happy Birthday Sweetie! We love you! Welcome to your 30s!

As Requested

There have been some requests by Nana and others to see more pictures of our little Claire. It's amazing how much they change every day! Here are a few that I just downloaded from the last week.

So serious!

Cute little doll!

Dallin was quite proud of himself for picking out her matching bow. That's his new favorite thing to do. So fun to have a sister!

Pretty in pink.

Claire LOVES to take baths. No matter if she's hungry or tired or fussy she'll calm right down and get so relaxed. In fact she cries as soon as we turn off the water! Look at those chubby little arms and legs. Cute!

I think she looks so big in this picture! I just took it today. Also, just to show she doesn't ALWAYS have a bow in her hair. (I admit, she did have one in earlier but it fell off when Daddy was holding her. What can I say! I'm having fun dressing up my little girl!)

The Story

I can't believe Claire is two weeks old today! Where does the time go? I do have to admit it's a little blurry right now due to Claire's sleeping schedule. But really, she's doing so good. She always gives me a good 4-5 hour stretch at night and usually another 3-4 hour stretch right after that. And who can resist a cute little baby in the middle of the night...no matter how tired you are. I always say that's why they come so cute. I have sat down to the computer a few times to write our story and then someone calls. So tonight I thought I'd FINALLY get it down. Not to mention there are a few people who want to see more than the two pictures we've posted of her! So here we go!

Friday, August 1st, we got up at 4:45 am and got all showered and ready to head to the hospital. We had one of the young women in our church come over to watch the kids so we wouldn't have to wake them up. We left at 5:30. It was such a strange and different thing to just head out and have everything all in order and most of all to be heading to the hospital not in pain! It was almost more nerve racking than ever!

We arrived at 6:00 and they immediately started getting me all prepped and ready to go for my 7:30 appointment. So strange! They put the baby monitors on while we waited for the IV's to empty and what do you know...I was in labor! Regular contractions coming every 4 minutes and getting stronger. I was so happy! I was so worried that we didn't pick the right day or that she wasn't ready. And I was sad that I was going to have to miss out on feeling contractions. What a relief! I felt so much better about everything knowing that scheduled or not, she was ready to come that day anyway.

Things moved along nicely and before long I was in the operating room with the anesthesiologist getting my spinal. I was also very nervous about this. I had only ever had epidurals and had heard things about nasty spinal block headaches and not being able to sit up for hours afterwards, etc. But it wasn't bad at all. And wow...FAST! Holy smokes! Things picked up from there on out and at 7:27 little Claire was born! She was crying away. They all started talking about her brown hair and all I wanted to know was..."Is she really a girl?" After they all assured me she was and held her up so I could see THEN I could get excited about her brown hair. (Throughout my entire pregnancy I could only imagine her with brown hair. The only other baby I imagined their hair color on was Dallin. I could only imagine him with brown hair, too, and sure enough...they both had brown hair!)

The hospital stay went well and I was discharged 48 hours later. We were home by noon on Sunday. I have to say I think this was my easiest recovery ever. I don't know if it was because I didn't have hours and hours of hard labor on top of it all or what. But by day 5 I didn't feel any pain, could sit up from lying down without any problem, sleep on whatever side I wanted, etc! Awesome! Then the lovely urinary tract infection hit that night. Not cool. I've never had one of those after having a baby. No fun. And it was late at night of course. I got a hold of my doctor and he faxed me a prescription. Thank you! So all is well now.

So that's our story. So different than my boys but in good ways, too. We're so happy to have Claire. She's doing so good and just had her two week appointment today. She now weighs 9 lbs. 4 oz. Up 9 oz. from 9 days ago. Her pediatrician was quite impressed and says we're doing good!

Claire and Austin in the hospital

Claire and Dallin

Claire and Coen

Uncle Jason (Tory's brother) has been in Texas this month and was able to help us tons watching the boys that weekend.

My pretty flowers and balloons. Uncle Jason took the boys to the store to pick them out while Tory was helping me at the hospital.

Claire and Daddy. The book Breaking Dawn was released that weekend. Tory said he got it for "me" but we can see who is really reading it!

Claire all dressed up to come home.

Cute little feet!

Our welcome home cake made by Tory! He also had the best dinner that he made for us. Taco salad with the WORKS, a giant fruit salad with EVERY fruit you can imagine, and even our favorite Manzana (apple flavored) soda to drink. All eaten by candlelight of course!

She Has Arrived!

Welcome to our family!

Claire Elise

August 1, 2008

7:27 am

8 lbs. 15 oz.

20.5 inches long