Happy Easter!!

Today our little town came alive in celebration of Easter. Actually, the fun started a week ago when we noticed the giant "Easter Eggs" in the roundabout. (I just realized how small our town is - "THE" roundabout... no stoplights either). The eggs were huge concrete mixers - the kind you find on trucks - and they had been painted in pastel colors and placed there by a giant Easter Bunny, I guess. The girls were amazed by them. The fun continued with an Easter egg hunt at a local park. Jenna and Morgan collected eggs, searched through a hay bail for treats and had a high school girl paint bunny faces. Taryn is growing so much. She is over 19 lbs at 6 1/2 months, and 27 1/2 inches. She is the same length as Jenna and Morgan were at this age, but she weighs 3 to 4 lbs more. Taryn has become confident rolling from back to front and vise versa all over the floor! We love her!! Jenna and Morgan are amazing big sisters. They are patient with her, they teach her about life, and are thrilled when she does new things. Both big sisters tattled on her today for breaking the same toy. She did not really break the toy, and, sorry Taryn - you will have a hard time hiding anything from anyone.

Feeling Close to Holland

Whereas I've never been to Holland, I feel a strong connection to this country because of my family's history. My dad's parents immigrated to the United States from Holland when they were teens, and what I know of Holland I learned from them. Since tulips, windmills and wooden shoes are symbolic to this country, I felt sentimental as I visited a local tulip farm with my girls.

Jenna's 5th Birthday!

Our baby girl is 5! Justin and I were remembering the nicknames we called her when she was a baby - from "Baby Jenna" to "Princess" and "Princessca", which became "Cessca" or "Cessie". We have put aside these nicknames to make way for ones more fit for a 5-going-on-15 yr-old - Jenna or Jen. Of course as parents we slip in the occasional "sweetie pie, Jenna-Lou, or Jenna Louise." Oh, but what's in a name? We love Jenna so much and here are some of the reasons we think she is so special: (.....to be continued)

Arizona - Thanksgiving

We had so much fun seeing my parents, all my siblings and our kids' cousins in Arizona over Thanksgiving. McKenna, Tyler & Monica's daughter, is a super cutie whose sweet disposition we hope rubs off on Taryn:)
It was funny to play this game where we had to guess the child by only looking at their eyes through the paper cutouts. Some of us could not even guess our own kids.
My kids are more brave than I around animals.
Jenna is a natural... feeding the giraffe at the Phoenix zoo a piece of lettuce. I was laughing so hard at how the zookeepers were complaining of freezing in 58 degree weather.
As we were looking at the tortoises we saw a hare hopping about inside the exhibit.
Hooray for a heated pool and a good friend/cousin to play with!

Taryn - 1 month old / Blessing Day

Jenna is an amazing big sister to Taryn... she is so good at assessing her needs. You'll notice in a lot of these pictures Taryn is crying. She cries a lot. As she approaches 3 months she is definitely getting better.
Morgan is very matter-of-fact regarding her sister. If Taryn cries and Morgan sees that nobody is taking care of her, Morgan will try to give her a binki or pick her up. I feel like I always need to be on my toes protecting our children from each other. Jenna and Morgan are a funny combo... their fights escalate because Jenna fights with words and Morgan physically - grabbing, scratching, pulling, etc. - you can guess who usually wins.
The first couple months we appreciated these peaceful moments when Taryn slept. Poor thing just cried so much... fortunately we could keep her content a lot of the time by holding her.
Taryn wore the same blessing dress as her sisters. We enjoyed family coming to celebrate this special day with us.

Welcome Taryn

Early Monday morning, October 4th I woke up about 2am and was feeling contractions. I woke up Justin, told him I was in labor and that we needed to start getting ready to go to the hospital. After walking all over the house finishing little "nesting" projects, I sat down to rest for a few minutes, and the contractions stopped. We were bummed... with my first two I had gone into labor without any false alarms. The pre-labor with Taryn came and went all week. Finally, Saturday morning, October 9th, I was feeling contractions again about 10 to 12 minutes apart. This time they were a little stronger and I decided (didn't "think", "DECIDED") I was in labor. Justin and I called Kate, who so kindly came over in the middle of the night to stay with the girls while we ventured to the hospital. We arrived about 4:30am and I was dilated to a 2. Woops... I thought at that point I had jumped the gun and we were going to be sent home. The nurse sent us on an exciting date of walking the halls of the hospital for an hour.. I actually enjoyed that time to walk and talk with Justin. Afterwards I had dilated to 4cm! I was so happy we got to stay. I opted for the epidural. The possible side-effect of blood pressure lowering happened to me after I received it, which made me feel light-headed and a little panicked, but the anesthesiologist was ready with the meds to bring my blood pressure back to normal. At 5:40pm, Taryn Jane was born weighing 9lbs 4oz, and 22 inches long. Jenna and Morgan are enjoying their little sister. Jenna loves to hold Taryn and likes to ask, "do you recognize my voice?" Morgan will hold Taryn on her lap for about 2 seconds, then say, "all done."

To Baby: A Girlie House Awaits

Baby number 3 should have no worries about her environment being very "girlie". From pink polka dots on bedding everywhere, to dolls and dress-up clothes. Even the trike in the backyard is pink and purple. But, oh wait, there is ONE toy that little boys tend to be more interested in... a train with tracks. I thought the girls would play with it a lot, but they had lost interest... until today when Jenna entered the room holding an oval -shaped train track she put together. I spoke too soon when she corrected me, "Mom, it's a necklass... I made it for you!" So rest assured - if you were worried - baby girl 3... the house is completely girlified... with one exception... Daddy & a few of his things.

We can't wait to meet you, baby! Mommy is having a few contractions here & there. One week until your due date... October 8, 2010.