Hello Spring

Would you come out to stay please?

Snow Day!

Nikolas had so much fun playing in the snow making snow balls and throwing them at Tone'.

I wish we could have gone up to the mountain this winter to play in the snow,

but I was not wanting to risk going into labor up there

and now I don't want to take baby up there.

Next year.

Bombs away!

Lukas did have fun, in spite of his grumpy appearance.

Such joy!

My little snow baby.

Lukas was looking at the flowers trying to poke their heads up through the snow.

I really wish we could just have a couple days of snow. Like, 6 inches would be fun.

Come on Pacific NorthWest.

One Month Old!

Estella is a month old already!

I found these little owl stickers that have a number for each month up to 12 so we can keep track of her growth. Aren't they adorable?! I need to find a some other object to put her by so her growth is more obvious.

She now weighs 10 pounds and has grown 3/4 ths of an inch making her 20 and 3/4th inches. I couldn't believe she was 10 pounds! She is going to surpass her brothers for sure growing like that. She is in the 75th percentile for her weight. The boys have never been in that percentile so it will be funny to see where she is next time.

I'm loving having a little girl as there are just so many cute things to dress her in and to buy for her. I'm especially having fun decorating her room in owls.

She is sleeping well the first half of the night currently, unfortunately, she doesn't sleep at all the last half. I'm going to go a bit crazy if that doesn't change. She has two months and then it's training time.

No, We Can Not Keep Him

This little guy jumped out from under the couch at me the other day.

I was reading and holding Estella and saw something move out of the corner of my eye, and there was this cute little frog:) I screached to Tone' who was in the other room, "TONE', COME SEE THIS!" He was on the couch as he was in the midst of the flu and when he heard me he thought something was terribly wrong and jumped out and came running. When he saw it was a frog he said, "In the future, when I am sick, there are only three things you can screach like that for: a dead body, a meteor the size of Texas or a plague of frogs in Biblical proportion." Hmm, I guess I did sound like there was something about to eat me.

It was too bad that the boys were spending the night at John and Karen's, 'cause they missed out on seeing the little froggie. (Well, not really too bad. It was actually really sweet having the night off)

Then, Tone' asked; "Can we keep him?"

"No"

"We could put it in my aquarium!"

"No"

"Just until tomorrow so the boys can see him!"

"No"

So with sagging shoulders Tone' shooed the little guy out the door.

More Estella Pictures

My camera is still not working so I am borrowing a friends old one so I haven't been as picture happy as I would normally be. I'm so bummed as I know I'm missing Estella's newborn moments that I'll never get again. So sad. Here are a few pictures we have taken though.

Mama and daughter

My midwife and me with little Estella

I am so thankful to have had the same midwife for all three of my children. Even when I am screaming at her, "NO, I don't want to push!", she stays calm, takes it all in stride and encourages me anyway.

Uncle Bill with his first niece

Grandpa Graham with his oldest grandchild and his youngest grandchild.

Made even more special that they are both girls and both born on the exact same day!

Yep, Estie decided she wanted to share Alex's birthday, so they are exactly 19 years apart.

Stay tuned; there will be more of our little Estie coming soon!

Eleven Days New

Our Beautiful Baby Girl

Our whole household is simply smitten by our sweet little Estie. Lukas loves to kiss "his baby" and talk in a little baby voice to her, (not that that is too much different than his real life voice). Nikolas, surprisingly, has also been caught stroking her head and talking sweet to her. He even held her today!

I find it hard to believe that I am actually dressing my baby in pinks and putting bows in her hair, but I am! She looks so incredibly cute, how could I not?

She's awake, don't blink or you'll miss her eyes!

She is definitely fitting the old saying, "sleep like a baby" as she is awake for about 3 hours a day. Now the nights are a little different. Actually, she does pretty well for a newborn, but waking every 2 hours to nurse seems to come so much quicker at night than during the day.

And lest you all think we are ignoring our boys during this time, here is a picture of Nikolas with his dinosaur egg carton craft we did today. They both were pretty happy with their creations and spent at least 20 minutes roaring and swinging their tails at each other.

Estella Erlene Has Arrived!

Our baby girl decided to come 2 weeks early!

She was born on February 3rd at 4:49pm. She was not due until February 16th, but my babies seem to like arriving unexpectedly for some reason.

If you have seen my facebook page then you have seen these pictures, and unfortunately, they are the only pictures, with the exception of the last two, that we have of our hospital stay:( My fancy camera, with my new flash from Christmas, went bonkers and wouldn't take any flash pictures at all, so they are all blurry. Thankfully, my friend Melinda brought her new camera and she captured these pictures which turned out perfect. Thanks so much Melinda!!!!!

I can't believe she was inside me just hours earlier, how did she fit?! Now I know why I was feeling her foot in my rib cage at the same time as I felt her head....elsewhere.

"What do I do with a girl?!"

Nice and plump and fresh from the womb. And still gooey.
She weighed 7lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 inches long. She was bigger than both her brothers, taller than Lukas and the same height as Nikolas when they were born. Thankfully, her head was small like Nikolas, and unlike Lukas, so she just popped right out! I have come to realize that it doesn't matter in childbirth how much they weigh so much, it matters how big there noggin is.


My dad and Sue had the boys for the past 4 days while we were going in and out of the hospital and then while we had little Estie. The boys loved being with their Grandma and Grandpa and Tone' and I are so thankful we have them close by to help us in such a big way.
When Dad and Sue brought the boys to meet their new little sister their reaction surprised me. They were both so interested in her and for quite a while as well:) They sat up next to me and proceeded to point out all of her little body parts and ask me all sorts of personal questions like, "Mommy, can I see where she came out of?" "Um, no Nik, you can't."


Some other funny comments were:

Nik: "Can I see her girl parts?"

Lukas: "Why do you still have a baby in your tummy?" (Thanks kid)

Lukas: "Did the baby come out of your bellybutton? " (I wish)


It has been so sweet to watch my boys being gentle with her and interested in her and quite proud to be her big brothers. Today at church we walked into their Sunday School room and Lukey immediately ran up to a little buddy and pulled his arm toward Estella saying, "Come see my new baby!!!" They both love to point out her arrival to everyone and have been wearing their new Big Brother shirts proudly, which, of course, I have no pictures of yet.

Baby Estie is now 3 days old and is doing wonderfully. I am recovering quite quickly as this labor went so much smoother than the last two. I could have a few more at this rate:)

Hopefully I'll get my camera figured out soon so I can get some close up shots of our little girl. She looked especially sweet today dressed up for church. I can't believe I have a girl!