Newborn Photo Session

My brother and sister-in-law gave us the gift of a newborn photo session with a great photographer they know. Her name is Mary and she was so good with us and the kids! It was such a relaxed and easy-going session. That's hard to find in a photo session...it seems like the kids are afraid of the photographer, the photographer isn't a "kid" person and can be awkward or pushy or the session feels rushed. Our session yesterday went so smoothly...none of that weirdness that can come with posing in front of a camera! Anyway, Mary was kind enough to post a "sneak peak" of our session on her blog. There are two poses up and I just love them both!! The rest of the session will be ready for viewing in about 4-5 weeks...which will be just enough time for me to save up enough money to buy ALL of the prints I'm going to want to buy!! I just know there will be several great pictures!! So, if any of my fellow blog readers and friends are interested in scheduling a photo shoot in the near future, I would definitely recommend this gal!! Her info is on her blog/website. Here is a link. You might need to scroll down a little to see our proofs...she puts several sneak peaks on her blog for all of her customers to see.

http://tomorrowsmemoriesphotography.blogspot.com/

A few pictures since we've been home...

Here are a few pictures of the baby since we've been home. The first one is him in his swing for the first time. He didn't like it! (I'm not sure if he will like it - he cries everytime we put him in it). The picture on the bottom is him in his bouncy seat. He fell asleep in that seat with the vibration on. He's done that twice now :)

July 16th, 2008 - Philips Birth Day!!

It's been one week since Philip was born! It doesn't quite seem like a week...it has kind've flown by. We decided to get induced so my doctor had us go to the hospital last Wed. at 0530 a.m.!! (That is SO early!!) So we arrived and they checked us in, started my I.V. (they stuck me twice!) and got me all hooked up. About 0830 the doctor came in and they started my epidural, then they broke my water and started the pitocin. The epidural worked great! I couldn't feel any pain but I could still move my legs a little and turn myself in bed. So, we hung out that morning and by around noon I had completely dilated (I was a 3 when I got there!) So, my doctor was called and when she got there I started pushing (around noon.) I pushed and he was born by 12:30!! Like I've said, he weighed 10 pounds and 9 ounces and was 22 inches long. The doctor was concerned at first that he would have a shoulder dystocia (his shoulders were too wide to come through the birth canal) but she knew what she was doing and delivered him without any problems!! She told me that had I waited until my due date, I would've had to have a C-Section (He was delivered 6 days before my due date.) The rest of my stay was pretty nice. The hospital was very nice. They even have a massage therapist on staff there. I didn't know this until I was checking out or I would've gotten a massage!! ( I was sad I missed out on that!!) But she did have a chance to give the baby a massage and showed me how to massage him if he's having gas and it worked! I was very impressed. I was impressed with all of my nurses and my care. It was very nice. So, we've been home a week now and things are going pretty well. I feel good. I haven't really had any of that post partum depression or anything like that, thankfully! I am in need of some sleep but I'm getting by. The baby is a sleeper - he sleeps a lot!! So, I'm not complaining. I'm so glad that Matt is on a break from school so he can help me with all THREE of our children now :)

Here is daddy...it's EARLY!!

I'm all hooked up and waiting for the baby!

Here he is, just a few minutes old!!

Susanna with her new baby brother! Madeline and her new baby brother!

What a cutie! The girls watch him get his bath!
How sweet!
Mommy and her new little man!

We're Home!!

Mr. Philip Matthew Kendall was born on Wed. July 16, 2008 at 12:30 p.m. He weighed 10 pounds and 9 ounces and was 22 inches long! He is doing great and I feel great. I'm happy to be home!! The girls just love him and want to help with him all the time. They are doing so good with him! I will write more later and post more pictures later. just wanted to post a couple because I know there are some of you who are anxious to see him!! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers these past few days. They are appreciated so much!

Madeline is a Winner!!

I'm pretty sure that I already e-mailed everyone but I wanted to post it on my blog too! Channel 9 News had a contest for Frontier City's 50th anniversary. You just had to enter pictures of a trip to F.C. and Gary England will choose a winner (there will be 5 winners) to win a family 4 pack of tickets to Frontier City. Well, we were the first winner. Her picture was on during the weather tonight. I'm putting a link in here and to the right side of the web page you can see where they post the winners. If you click on the link you can see the pictures I submitted.

http://www.news9.com/global/Category.asp?c=139715

Walk Myself Into Labor???

Today Matt was off from his clinical so I thought it might be a good idea to try to go out and walk myself into labor. I thought about going to the mall but then I remembered that Madeline has asked me everyday this week to go to the zoo. Since our zoo passes are expiring this month we decided to take a trip to the zoo!! Yes, I must be crazy because it was like 95 degrees outside and I'm carrying around more weight than I have in my entire life!!! :) But, my goal was to have fun and hopefully get my labor started. Well, it's 8:30pm and still no labor. Yeah, I'll have a random contraction but that's about it. Nothing consistent. But we did have fun at the zoo! Matt took Madeline out on the Swan Paddle Boats. She's been wanting to do that for a long time. It cost $6.00 for the both of them for 30 minutes. She was finished after about 10 minutes, though. We also road the tram again. That's about the only way I get to see the giraffes or the wild dogs b/c I'm not taking that long walk out into the hottest, least shady part of the zoo!! (I don't like that walk even when I'm not pregnant! :) So we walked around the zoo for about 4 hours. Even if I didn't go into labor, I got some good exercise!!

A Perfect Day for a Tea Party!

Today Madeline and Susanna attended their very first tea party. They were invited by one of their favorite friends, Trinity. They really enjoyed getting dressed up and the wonderful service at the tea party! They were served a delicious meal of cheese and crackers, peanut butter and crackers and carrots with ranch from the Hidden Valley. For dessert they were served a delicious strawberry dessert and cupcakes. I think the girls enjoyed putting the sugar in their tea as much as they did drinking it!! (This was the first time they've ever drank tea as well!) At first, Susanna was being shy and didn't really act very excited about the party. But soon she came around and began to have fun. The girls were given a bell to ring for service and they didn't hesitate to let the wait staff know if they needed something :) After the tea they were able to make fun crafts and play a little while. This was a perfect tea party for 4 adorable little girls! Thanks so much Trin for inviting us!!

Let's Go Fly a Kite!

Madeline had the idea today to go fly a kite. Neither she nor Susanna have ever flown one but she was telling me all about what you needed to do to properly fly her kite. Apparently, she's seen someone on one of her cartoons flying kites. Anyway, we just so happen to have a kite in the garage that I must have bought at some point so we decided to take them to a nearby school to fly it. She was very excited about going. Well, when we got to the school yard and Matt got the kite in the air her attitude changed. He got the kite up and gave her the handle and string and I think it was much stronger and unpredictable than what she had expected. It made her a little nervous and she started getting very frustrated and didn't want to have anything to do with it. She got angry and gave it back to her dad. After a while we talked her back into holding the kite and she felt a little more comfortable with it. But she wasn't nearly as excited as she was about the idea of flying the kite. Susanna held it for a while and I think she had fun. It was pretty windy and strong but she did fine. So, we'll have to wait and see if they want to fly their kite again anytime soon???

Independence Day 2008

This year we went to my brother's house for the 4th of July again. It's always a lot of fun! Several of our cousins and their kids come over and we eat and the kids play and then we set off our own fireworks. Plus, the 4th is my dad's birthday so we celebrate with him too (he's in the first picture.) Melissa grilled hot dogs and hamburgers (yum!) for everyone and we had fruit and ice cream and popsicles. Once it started to cool off a little we went outside. Dylan showed us his golf swing and then the kids played on his little four-wheeler and the older kids played on Melissa's big four-wheeler. Since Mike has an emply acre behind his house, there was room to ride it. When it came to the fireworks, Susanna and Rylee did not like the "pops". They were too loud. They stayed outside for a little and then went in to watch cartoons. Madeline liked them at first but then a really loud one popped and it scared her so inside she went too! They all went off with no major burns or fires! :)

...On another note....I didn't have my 4th of July baby. I just knew I'd have this baby on the 4th of July. Nope, he has other plans in mind. So, we'll see. Matt took the girls during the day to a carnival in Moore. I stayed home b/c it was just too hot for a big 'ol pregnant girl to walk around. He took some really cute pictures and I would've loved to post them but I accidentally erased them last night when I uploaded the pictures from my brother's house :(

Hope you all had a fun Independence Day!!