Test Results are In

In case you haven't heard the wonderful news yet, Rianne's tests all came back normal. I spent the majority of the day, Wednesday, at the Children's Hospital at Scottish Rite getting tests run to make sure her kidneys are okay. She got an ultrasound and a test called a VCUG (they insert a catheter and dyed fluid to see if her bladder refluxes fluid into her kidneys.). She was a trooper; she didn't cry at all. Then on Thursday, the doctor let us know everything's okay. We are so grateful for everyone's prayers and concerns for Rianne. She's a perfect addition to our family.
Here's a picture from after church yesterday. Let me tell you, getting 3 kids ready is WAY different than 2. Hopefully it will get easier when Rianne doesn't want to nurse every minute she's awake. I thought I was doing good until it hit 8:30, the time we usually leave, and all the kids were ready, but I was still in my pajamas. We made it in time to take sacrament, but it was close. I pray next week is better. We'll see....

When it Rains...

Things have been kinda crazy since we came home from the hospital. Nate had his final week of school and now has a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice. (I'm so glad that is finally over with.) On Memorial Day, we had to take Braelinn to the Urgent Care, and we found out she had strep throat. It was not easy keeping her away from her new baby sister. Then on Tuesday, Rianne had her 2 week checkup, and I had to take her back to the hospital to get blood drawn. Turns out her jaundice level was really elevated, so they sent someone out to our house with a light bed for her to lay on. Well, when I went to pick up the kids from my mom, Danen was running a fever of 101.2*F. So Nate met me as soon as he got off work, and took Danen to the Urgent Care (of course everything happened "after hours") while I rushed home to met the light-bed guy. Danen ended up having a virus similar to Hand, Foot, and Mouth, so he is suppose to stay away from Rianne now, and she has to stay on the lights for 24 hours a day. It has been 4 days of juggling sick kids and a husband whose got the worst case of poison ivy I've ever seen (he actually had to get a steriod shot to hopefully get rid of it). Out of all of this, I will say this light bed is way more humane than the one Braelinn had to stay under in the hospital with the little Batman goggles. Here's a few pictures I snapped of her sleeping.

She finally did get off the bed today. So I'll be getting up some cute pictures in cute clothes soon, I hope. Next week we are going to get all of the tests done to see how her kidneys are functioning. I will keep you posted.

And can I add, on an equally as important subject, did you see the New Moon trailor? Oh my goodness!! I'm so excited, I don't know if I can wait 5 months.

THE BIG UPDATE!!

Hello, Everyone. I've finally gotten a computer again, and it's just in the nick of time. Nate graduated from FLETC one week ago, and he is home for good. We've been trying to get as much done as possible this past week that has been neglected over the last 5 months due to his absence and my pregnancy. And just when I couldn't handle being pregnant anymore, we welcomed Rianne to the world last night. My plan was to get my midwife to induce me yesterday after my check-up. When she did the exam, she said I was doing fine on my own. And sure enough, two hours later, we were heading to the hospital with contractions 3 minutes apart. Don't look too closely because it is slightly obscene, but here is a picture of me in the triage room of the hospital waiting to get checked in.

This picture is obviously after the epidural. Life was much better for the rest of the night.

I'm sure no one wants to see the gross details of birth, so here's Rianne, all cleaned up, weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs. 14 oz.

She has truly been the easiest baby for the last 19 hours. She hasn't cried at all. She just sleeps. And sleeps. She's a very good blend of Braelinn and Danen. She looks like Braelinn while she's asleep, and Danen in the brief moments of being awake.

And might I add, LOOK AT ALL THE HAIR!!!!! She has more hair than Braelinn already. It's a miracle. Maybe it will stay dark and curly, and I'll have some contribution to one of my kids.

Finally, here is our first family picture. Braelinn was so excited to hold her new baby sister. Danen just wanted to honk her nose.

Thanks for all your prayers and help during this pregnancy. We are so grateful for all of y'all.

White Oak Park with Daddy

We've been counting down the days for Nate coming to visit. When he got home last night, Braelinn went crazy! We decided to go to a new park that just opened up down the road from our house since the weather was beautiful today (nearly 70 degrees!). The kids had so much fun. The park equiptment looks like a farm. Here's Braelinn on the section shaped like a tractor.

Here she is blowing bubbles in front of the barn playground. I love this picture because it looks like the bubble's popping on her nose.

Here is the rock wall that she climbed to the top of by herself....

Here's one of my favorite pictures...kisses for Daddy.

Danen had so much fun playing on the little bulldozer for babies. He loved this slide!!
We had a lot of fun playing with Daddy and are so excited that he will be able to visit next weekend also since he gets an extra day off. The last month has seemed very long, so we'll take advantage of our short weekends.

Danen's 1st Birthday!!

Okay. I know I've won the Worst Mom of the Year award, but I promise there is a good excuse as to why this has taken soooo long to get on our blog. The night of Danen's birthday party, I tried to get all of this posted, but our internet was down. The next day Nate left for Brunswick to start his federal agent's school and I haven't had a computer. So here we are.

Two weeks late but just as adorable.

On New Year's Eve, Danen's 1st birthday, we went over to Grandpa and Grandma's house to have a small get-together. Uncle John, Aunt Jamie, and Aidan came back up to get their Christmas presents, so they were able to celebrate with us. Grandma made a cake which Danen LOVED.Then we opened John and Jamie's present. It was a bowling set that moos. Danen had so much fun knocking over the pins.

Then on Saturday, January 3rd, we had his official 1st birthday party. The theme was sports' balls. It turned out being very small as well. (We're going to have to time it before or between football play-off games from now on.) As an experienced cake-eater now, Danen knew exactly what to do...

One of his favorite presents of the day was a popazon chair he got from Grandpa and Grandma. He almost fell asleep sitting in it.

He has been enjoying all of his presents. Trust me, I know; I clean them up all day long. So thank you to everyone for coming and participating in Danen's 1st birthday!

Merry Christmas!!

Hope everyone had as much fun as we did. We started the morning out at our house opening presents from Santa and each other. We were very blessed this year to get everything we did.

Brealinn was very excited to get started. She was so grateful for even the smallest things (lip gloss, for example). It was so fun to watch her open her presents. Her two most favorite things were a Tinkerbell tent from Santa and a Taylor Swift CD from her dad. Danen was hilarious. He was done before he really started. We opened his stocking, and he found a clementine. All he wanted to do from then on was throw it like a ball. We could have skipped his presents altogether. He favorite thing was a tunnel to crawl through from Santa.

After we finished up at home, we went to Nate's parents' house to open presents with them and Jamie's family. Braelinn got a lot of great things. She has been obsessed with The Wizard of Oz this year, so Grandpa and Grandma got her a Dorothy doll.

Danen, once again, was happy with the first thing he got. It was a police car from Grandpa and Grandma. You might say that Nate had even more fun with it.

We also went to my grandparent's house on Saturday, ate together, and opened presents. Braelinn got a doggie she can stuff (like Build-a-Bear) at home that goes with a toy Santa got her, and Danen got the loudest drums and musical toys ever.

IT"S A GIRL!!!!

We found out today the baby is a GIRL. We were really worried about finding out before Nate left for school. My appointment was scheduled for Jan. 2nd, and Nate is leaving on the 4th. The doctor's office called saying the sonographer needed to reschedule for the 6th. We were so sad Nate was going to miss out. So Nate asked his friend, who's a sonographer, if she could do it for us on Dec. 20th. She said yes, and we were all set. Well, today, I had to go in for routine bloodwork, and my sonographer fit me in! Nate raced up to the doctor's office, in uniform and all, and we found out today. We actually had her put the gender on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope, so we could open it with family to find out. It was the cutest ever when Braelinn opened the envelope and squealed, "It's a girl!" She's so excited except she really wants the name to be "Snow White." Anyways. We just wanted to get the word out to all of our family and friends. We love you all.