North Carolina

 Can you tell that she has older siblings?  Poor girl.  She is very patient.

 Colton wanted a puppy  cake with his spiderman figure on top.  It's his birthday, so whatever her wants is fine with me. 

 Everyone at Ella's baptism. 

 Lydia likes to party! 

 Burying Mike.  They made him into a Merman. 

 Look who is smiling!  This photo was taken today.  She is almost 7 weeks old.  Time is flying! 

 Jocelyn at about 2 weeks.  I have yet to edit this photo shoot. 

 Colton was so proud he climbed this tree.  When I went to put the camera away, he fell down the tree.  He had a big cut from his eye to his ear, but I'd say he fared quite well considering how far he fell. 

 Jocelyn and Lydia  on Jocelyn's blessing day. 

 My mom and dad came out for the blessing.  Colton was helping Papa fix the sink sporting his new John Deere hat. 

The family at Jocelyn's blessing.  What a good lookin bunch.  

It's been a busy summer!  I've been to Ohio a few times and we went to North Carolina with Mike's family last week and spent a few days at a beach house there.  It was tons of fun.  Just about everyone got the flu while we were there, but it was still worth it.  I got the bug on a rainy day which worked out well.  Lydia wasn't so lucky. She threw up all over herself and the car on the 10 hour drive down there.  That was the low point. We pulled off the road and started stripping down Lydia, so she is half naked in the parking lot with puke in her hair and crying.  Colton was in such a hurry to get out of the car, that he cut his foot and won't let me look at it, so I am trying to hog tie him while he is screaming.  Jocelyn is crying and Mike is running on 3 hours of sleep and is so frustrated he is just kicking the car tire.  We just laughed about it though!  We also celebrated Colton's 4th birthday while we were in Ohio with the cousins.  My niece Ella was baptized and Jocelyn was blessed.  We went to Cedar Point as well, but those photos are on my other camera, so I'll have to post those photos later.  (Cedar Point is one of the biggest amusement parks in the country.)  School starts on Wednesday and I can hardly believe that our summer adventures are over. 

Jocelyn, Bday's, and Swim lessons

Yay for swim lessons!  It sort of looks like a grimace, but I promise she was having fun.

Love that big grin. 

Obviously before a baby is born, you play the waiting game.  We wondered if Jocelyn would come on Lydia's birthday, but she came one week later.  We celebrated Lydia's 6th birthday at home with Grandma Reed who flew in the night before for the baby.  Lydia had a princess cake and we went out to eat at Chik-fil-a, which was really fun. They were having family night so the kids got balloon animals and a tour of the back of the restaurant.  Grandma Reed also celebrated HER birthday the day we brought Jocelyn home- so it was birthday central for us. 
This pregnancy picture was about a week before baby came.  My basketball tummy.  

So here is the scoop on the labor story . . .  I had my membranes stripped on a Wednesday, a few days before my due date on Saturday the 23rd.  Nothing happened.  So frustrating.  Got to my due date on Saturday, which I have never done before.  The other kids were early.  Went in Monday and they stripped my membranes again and scheduled an induction for Friday.  Blah- I didn't want to wait for another week and my mom was supposed to leave soon.  Monday night around midnight, I started having contractions about 10 minutes apart- for several hours.  So I got ready.  I packed my toothbrush and ate a couple of bowls of cereal (Which Mike was afraid he would be seeing later on, but I didn't care- I didn't want to go into the hospital already starving!)  Once I was ready, I tried getting some rest, and then my contractions stopped!  Frustrating again.  We all got up Tuesday morning kind of down.  Mike took Lydia to her speech school and he went to work.  Colton and I were playing cars about mid morning when contractions started coming every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes.  I called Mike and asked him to pick up Lydia from school because I was contracting again.  He asked, "Am I just picking up Lydia or am I coming home to take you to the hospital?"  He couldn't believe that the time had finally come.  Mike got home and  I wanted to eat lunch and then go to the hospital.  (Again, I'm obsessed with not being hungry!) Mom convinced us to get going and eat in the car.  Contractions started hurting even more and coming closer together on the 20 minute ride to the hospital.  I was glad we got there when we did because I was dilated to a 6 when we got there and very much wanting an epidural.  The wonderful hospital staff hurried and saw that I got my epidural.  Oh what a relief.  I was so glad to be able to relax through the contractions.  I continued to dilate quickly and was soon pushing.  15 minutes later and Baby Piglet entered the world.  It all happened so fast it was surreal.  3 1/2 hours of labor.  It seemed too easy to only have to push for the 15 minutes.  I pushed for an hour with Colton and was wholly expecting a lot more work, but hey, I will take it! 

The proud parents.

First family photo.  Lydia was intimidated by the hospital- can you tell she looks worried. 

Things already getting a little crazy with 3.  (Colton's bandaids were covering the injury he sustained from learning how to ride his bike without training wheels.  He is now a pro!) 

Thanks for all the help Grandma! 

How I LOVE LOVE LOVE this photo!  Because I LOVE LOVE LOVE all three kids in it!

Lydia has enjoyed picking out Jocelyn's clothes and brushing her hair.  Oh, and painting her nails.  What fun to be an older sister. 

Well, after talking so much about the new baby, I suppose I should go feed her! 

Welcome Baby!

She is here!  Jocelyn a.k.a Piglet came Tuesday afternoon.  She was 8lb 7 0z and has been a little sweetheart!  I was having labor in the night and it stopped, but it picked back up again around 11 in the morning.  She was born at 2:31, so I would say 3 and a half hours of labor.  It was fast, but I still got my epidural- yay.  I love epidurals!  We are headed home this afternoon and have been very grateful to have my mom here helping with Lydia and Colton.  Colton has loved baby.  He told me he would take care of everything!  Lydia hasn't been so sure about the hospital.  I think she will warm up more once we get home.  I am feeling very well and feel very blessed. 

Memorial Day

 I may be a little crazy- and my dad certainly thinks so, but for memorial day Mike was working on a roofing project so I split town and took the kids to Ohio for the long weekend.  They had new kittens on the Hansen 'farm' which Lydia was actually kind of afraid of.  But oh, they were cute!!

 We went to the "ocean" -a man made lake close by and played at the beach all afternoon and BBQ'd.  It was a great day.  I sat in the shade or in the water and just relaxed.  We all loved it!

 Colton and the kitten.  He LOVES animals.

 It makes me feel good that I'm not as big as my sis-in-law with a watermelon under her shirt.  I think I was watermelon size with Colton, now I think I am more basketball size.  (At least that is what everyone tells me.)

 Lydia and Ruthie.

 The posse of cousins in Ohio.  Thanks for the popsicles Uncle Chris.  It's always fun going to your house!

Uncle Chris had his first baby.  This is my nephew William.  Born a whopping 9 lbs 11 ozs.  (Colton was one ounce less which Mike will be reminded of for the rest of his life by both of his brothers.)

Right of Passage

 Colton fell asleep while we were reading our library books for the summer reading program.

Summer has officially started and we have been enjoying it outside.  The kiddo's started swim lessons.  They moved Lydia down a class and they moved Colton up a class, so now they are in the same class together, which makes it nice for me to watch them both at once.
Mike took Lydia's training wheels off yesterday and took her to a bike path where she quickly learned to ride a two-wheeler.  She was so excited.  First thing this morning we were out practicing again.  I am so glad she got it down because she has been wanting to learn for a long time and I knew that I would be no good to help her with it this summer because of the baby.  It makes me proud to see her accomplish this milestone in her life.  Between that and her cute little teeth starting to fall out, it seems like she has really gone through a right of passage.  She is a big kid now.  She turns 6 in two weeks.  Crazy! 
I am also due with our baby girl in two weeks and it just hit me today that, 'Holy Cow!  We are having a baby in just a few weeks.  Life is going to change.'  Though I've had 9 months to prepare for this, I had a real reality check today.  I'm ready for her to come, though I don't know what we will name her.  We can't call her Piglet forever.  I'm excited for my mom to get here (She loves new babies so much it's contagious!)  It would be nice though if baby waited to come until Mom get's here because I'd like to finish up swim lessons and Lydia will be starting a summer speech program next week.  I wish you could just know when so you don't have to wonder, and wait. . .

Spring Time Fun

 It's been a whirlwind of fun activities with school ending and the nice weather.  Several friends have asked me to take their family photos- this cute family included!  It's been fun and a learning experience.  Hopefully I can get better with all the practice my friends are giving me.

 Lydia finished her soccer season and once again loved it.  She really likes playing goalie.  She also loves the snacks after games. 

 We went camping and had the best camping weather I've ever had!  It was cool, but not cold.  Several of our friends also went and we all camped together.  It was so much fun!  The kids slept well and the adults slept okay.  Once again, Colton ate the chocolate off of his smore and left the marshmallow and cracker.  It seems to be his tradition.  

 Our little family on Mother's Day.  This was the day after camping, so everyone was still a little tired (Colton in particular) 

 Lydia had her end of year school party at the park.  I thought these girls looked so cute swinging together all wearing pink.

 Why is a parachute so much fun to play with?  Seeing these kids play games with the parachute brought back so many memories from elementary school. 

 More photos of camping.  Our neighbors setting up their tent.  What I love about this photo is our kids peeking through the screen of our tent watching everything. 

 Everyone after having survived the night.  Donuts always make ME happy in the morning.

 At Lydia's school they have a one mile run in honor of a previous gym teacher.  They close off the roads and all the kids run.  Parent's and grandparents come to cheer the kiddo's on and they get a ribbon at the end.  Here is Lydia waiting for her turn to run. 

Last, but certainly not least- Mike turned 30!!!!  He had a relaxing day.  All of his surprises were given away by a certain 5 year old girl who was very excited about his birthday.  We ended the day with hot brownies, fudge sauce, caramel and ice cream.  Then we went and saw "The Avengers"  (Thanks for watching the kids Emily!) 

Oh what fun it is to play in the mud!  Good thing that nasty mud puddle was around on a day when my back wasn't hurting, or he couldn't have had near so much fun!