First Bath

Myles' first bath went pretty well. He cried for a little bit, but was calm most of the time. The kids were very excited to help and Madi still asks me almost daily if she can help give him a bath or get him dressed. They are both such great helpers.

It's a Boy!!

On September 30, 2009 at 9:22 AM, a little miracle, Myles Willard Dahle joined our family. He weighed 8 lbs. and was 19 inches long. He has a dimple in his chin, has the Dahle nose and looks like his dad. He also looks a lot like Parker. We are so excited to have him in our family! Here is how it went... Tuesday, September 29th I had a doctors appointment and 4:30. I was only dilated to a 2, but Dr. Craig asked if I wanted to be started tonight. She was going to be out of town the rest of the week and she gave us the option of getting started that night or waiting until the following week. She left us alone for a minute to talk and we decided to get started. I have gone over 40 weeks with the other two pregnancies and physically I felt ready to be done with this one. It was also a good time because the kids were out of school for UEA and Lynn had everything lined up at work so he could be gone. I was a little freaked out because I thought it was weird to be basically planning my child's birthday, however I also didn't want to go another week or so when we had the option to get it done. So Dr. Craig said to be back to the hospital in an hour and we headed home to pack. This is me right before we left for the hospital. Thirty nine weeks pregnant. Once we got to the hospital and checked in, they started me on the PIT drip at about 8:00 PM. Life was good and contractions started. I dilated to a 3, but seemed to stop there for what seemed like forever. At about 2:30 AM I was still a 3 and they raised the PIT drip, but said if I didn't start dilating they would probably take me off and send me home. UGH!! Now that I was in it and having pretty good contractions, I so didn't want to be sent home. I wasn't willing to go through that pain for nothing. Luckily at 4:00 AM I was dilated to a 4 and the contractions were really hard so I got the Epidural (Oh, the relief of modern medicine!). The only weird thing is that the anesthesiologist that gave me the Epidural was a guy I knew in high school. What a great way to see someone again when you haven't seen them for 15 years. I felt beautiful... ha, ha! At 4:30 AM they thought my water broke on its own and then at 6:00 AM Dr. Craig came in to check me and I was still at a 4. We even made the comment that there is obviously a reason both my other two kids were late. I'm just not meant to come early. Dr. Craig checked me again at about 7:30 AM and was surprised that my water wasn't completely broken. The nurses had told her that another doctor had come in and broken my water, but he never had. So she finished breaking my water and then went home. At about 8:45 AM I told the nurse I was maybe feeling some pressure so she checked me again. She got a surprised look on her face and said "OK, don't push and don't move, you are ready right now!" She called Dr. Craig and she got there about 9:10 and once she walked in and looked at me, her eyes got huge and she hurried to get ready. Once she was ready she just pushed on my stomach once and the baby started coming out. I didn't even have to push once. It was amazing. The room was totally silent and I was able to feel the baby slide right out. It was like it was happening in slow motion. Then we heard his cry break the silence and Lynn said "It's a boy!" Words can't describe the spiritual experience of witnessing the birth of a child. It truly is the most beautiful thing to go through and I feel so blessed that we have been able to bring 3 beautiful, healthy children into this world. Right after he was born, Dr. Craig laid him on my stomach and I was able to help wipe him off. Another great experience that my other doctor hadn't done with the other two kids. Lynn cut the cord and then the nurse took him to take all the vitals and get him measured. Lynn was able to be there helping the nurse through all of it and he was even able to see all the color come through Myles' body. He was a blueish/purple color and then all of the sudden the reddish color spread throughout his body. Lynn said that was one of the coolest things he has been able to see. It snowed in the mountains the day Myles was born. This is the view from my hospital room window.

The happy grandparents!! We also got visits at the hospital from Aunt Karen (Lynn's sister), Keely, Kady, Val, Lannis and Uncle Kevin and Aunt Candace. And Uncle Kirk and Aunt Janis were at Lynn's parents home when we got home. Unfortunately I forgot to get pictures of everyone that came. Thanks everyone for the visits and treats you brought.

Myles right before we were heading home from the hospital. He weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. once we left and his bilirubin was right on the border of being too high. Unfortunately, the kids weren't able to come see us at the hospital. No children under 14 were allowed in the hospital at that time, because of the flu season. Lynn went home each day and showed them pictures and some videos of Myles, but they were having a ton of fun and getting spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa Dahle so luckily they didn't seem to care about not coming to the hospital. Parker was a big help to Lynn setting up the crib and was super excited. Once Madi was told about us having a baby boy, all she said was "Oh." Lynn also said she wouldn't give him hugs or talk to him or anything. Luckily by the time we got home from the hospital she was back to herself and excited to see the new baby.

Below are the pictures of the kids when they first met their new little brother. They were both pretty quiet and a Madi seemed a little unsure of him. Parker wanted to hold him right away and it took Madi a minute to warm up and then she had her turn holding him.

My Mom and the kids made this cute sign and hung up balloons for us. It was a nice surprise when we got home.

Unfortunately, when Myles got his bilirubin checked again on Sunday, October 4th, his count was at 17 and they like them to be under 10. So he had to start tanning on the Bilibed Lights. He is our first child to have jaundice and I got pretty emotional once I heard he had to be on the lights. I knew he would be fine, it was just hard hearing we wouldn't be able to hold him except for feedings and when we changed his diaper. He had to be on the lights at all other times. Finally on Friday, October 9th his Bilirubin was at 12.9 so we were able to take him off the lights. Yeah!! I think I held him that whole day.

We are so blessed to have Myles join our family. He is such a precious little guy. I love his 10 little fingers and 10 little toes, I love how he smells and I love staring at him and all the faces he pulls and his perfect little body. He is already very vocal with tons of grunts, squeaks and cries. He is sleeping pretty well during the night. Wakes up every 4 hours on the dot to get fed, but then pretty much goes right back to sleep. Our pediatrician says you can tell he is very opinionated and knows what he does and doesn't like. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing at this age, but we love him.

One Year Older and Wiser Too!

We are now the proud parents of a 7 year old. I think I say this every year, but I can't believe 7 years have passed already. Parker's birthday celebration started a week early when my parent were down for a quick visit. We went to Kevin and Candace's for Sunday dinner and then celebrated my Mom's birthday and Parker's birthday. My parents gave Parker a new basketball and he has absolutely loved it. In fact the night after he got it, Lynn and Parker were shooting a few hoops and then Parker came in and told me that he needed to get to bed so that he could do his basketball homework the minute he got home from school the next day. Well, the next day I was busy canning peaches with Peggy and at about 2:50 I was wondering where Parker was because he usually gets home at about 2:40. I hurry and get my shoes on to go look for him and there he was in the driveway doing his basketball homework. Even though it was really cute, I told him next time he needs to at least come and tell me he was home. Parker's birthday landed on a Sunday this year and we decided last year that we were only going to do friend parties every other year so it was nice to have a small get together with Lynn's parents and Kevin and Candace the day of his birthday. He woke up very excited that it was his day and made the request that we all call him "Birthday Boy" the whole day. Parker wanted a Lego cake this year, but didn't want to have marshmallows as the little nobs on the top so I got brave and decided to give rolled fondant a try. I was amazed at how easy it was to use and I love the bright colors that worked great for the Lego's.

We have being doing quite a bit of golf lately and Parker has decided that he can hit Nike balls the very best so Lynn wanted to get him his own box of Nike balls. Go Tiger!

And of course more Lego's. He is still a huge fan and plays with them practically every day. I've become a big fan myself.

Thanks to everyone that made this such a special day for our boy. Parker is such a great kid, he is always so truly caring about others. As Grandpa Dahle says he has a tender heart. He makes friends easily and is such a good big brother to Madilyn. His favorite things are Mac & Cheese, Lego's, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, spending time with his family, golf, basketball, fishing, playing the Wii and pretty much any sport. We are so glad we've had the opportunity to have him in our family and look forward to many more years.

Canning or Nesting?

This past week I have been a little domestic for some reason. Lynn says I'm just nesting, but I've been having a lot of fun canning some food. On Tuesday, Peggy helped me bottle 1 bushel of peaches. Wednesday I did Plum Jelly and Raspberry Jam (frozen and cooked). Thursday I made Chili Sauce and then Friday of the next week I made Jalapeno Jelly with Candace. Everything turned out great and I only had one bottle of peaches that didn't seal and one bottle of chili sauce that broke when it went in the hot water. Other than that, everything went very smooth.

I know I am a dork for taking pictures, but for some reason I find canned food to be so pretty. I finally had to take a break from painting doors that I mentioned in a earlier post, but the nesting has definitely continued between canning the food to painting our kids dresser (pictures to come soon), to cleaning out our cold storage, and more. I wish I could always have this energy and motivation to get things done. However, it has helped that work has been a little slow as well. I'm now starting to get a few jobs coming in so I guess the projects will be on hold again for a little bit.

Raptor's Game Again

Thanks to a friend of Lynn's, we scored some tickets to one of the last Raptor's games in Ogden. Carley, Grayson and their kids were able to meet us there and we all had a fun time watching the game. It was especially entertaining watching Carson get so involved in the game. He was really upset when the Raptor's ended up losing. However, the game was a little dangerous. When we first arrived, there was a gentleman sitting in our section that had just gotten hit right in the face by a foul ball. It looked pretty awful and they were just waiting for the Doctor's to get there to help him. Then after we sat down, part of a broken bat went flying into the stands (a section over from ours) and hit a lady walking to her seat. She didn't seem to get hurt too bad, but it made us a little jumpy each time a ball was hit. Luckily the Ogden Police Department was giving away free bike helmets to the kids that night so our kids had a little protection for a while. :) We had a great time at the game and as always it was fun to see Carley and catch up with her and get filled up on the delicious garlic fries. Madilyn, Parker, Carson and Alivia - it is very difficult to get 4 kids to look at the camera. Carley is due about 5 weeks after me. It was fun to be able to compare pregnancy woes and of course we had to get a picture. We are really excited because Carley and I have literally been friends since we were babies. Our families were neighbors and Carley was born on my due date of May 5th and then I was born 16 days later on May 21st. We even have a picture of our moms holding us as newborn babies. We played together as kids and then when her family moved out of state, we were great pen pals. Then our senior year in high school she moved back to Newton and we finished off our last year of school together. We have always been close and were even roommates for a year and a half before we both got married. She is a great friend and will always be my BFF.

Wellsville Founder's Day

Along with Labor Day comes the classic Founder's Day celebration in Wellsville. It is pretty much the only parade we go to all year and is always fun to catch up with old neighbors and friends while we are there. This year, we were able to have the Schmelter family and Kady tag along with us. After a delicious breakfast at Kady's house, we all ventured out to Wellsville for the parade. We had to introduce the entertaining/politically incorrect Sham Battle to someone new this year and as always it was great fun. Thanks to Phil and Julie for going the night before and setting up chairs in the shade. For some reason, I didn't pull out my camera much, but here are a few pictures of the festivities. Parker, Ewan and Silvie watching the parade. Madi and Parker enjoying some cotton candy. Madi is definitely Lynn's daughter with her love of sugar. I couldn't ever get her to look up in the picture, she was way too intense on getting the cotton candy eaten.

After the fun times out in Wellsville, Lynn and I were able to get in a round of golf with Val and Lannis. It was a great day!

Time Full of First Days

This time of year always brings about a lot of first days for everything the kids are involved in. We've had the first days of school, Madi started her first day of a new dance class, Parker had his first day of piano lessons again and Madi started Story Time at the library again. It is nice to get back on a schedule and routine, however along with all the first days, comes some busy times of running around. I wasn't on the ball enough to get pictures of all these first days, but I did get one of Madi and Annie on their first day of dance class. Don't they look like two cute ballerinas?