Welcome Kennedy Faith!

Baby Girl has finally arrived! Her name is Kennedy Faith. She was born on September 16th at 1 pm, weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and was 20.25 in long. This pregnancy has been very long and uncomfortable as you all know-I whined an awful lot! It was very different from my pregnancies with the boys and her labor and delivery was no different. With Brady I had a slow trickle with my water and contractions started at the same time. Total labor time was about 9 hours. With Grayson my water broke movie style in a big splash but my contractions didn't start for another 6 hours or so. Total labor time was 13 hours. But with Kennedy my Braxton hicks started around month 8. I'm pretty sure I was in labor for about 3 months! I started dilating 6 weeks before she actually came and had 2 different due dates and 2 different Dr's even though for this pregnancy we actually didn't move in the middle of it. So I joke that I was 40 weeks pregnant for 2 weeks! Haha! So needless to say since I had so many false contractions throughout the pregnancy I couldn't really tell if I was in labor or not.

So Friday morning I woke up feeling a little "off" and had frequent contractions all through the night. So I got up and as I sat at the table contemplating weather or not I was in labor I had contractions about 5-8 min. apart for 1 hour. So I thought maybe I'll wait until Brady gets home from school at 12 then go over to the Dr. Then I thought no, maybe I should call the Dr, take Brady to school and go over to the Dr. I took a shower and when I got done with that the contractions were a little more intense and I thought, no, we all just need to go. So we packed up the boys and my mother in law and headed to the hospital. Since my water hadn't broken and I wasn't positive I was in labor, they just had me come into the office to get checked. By this point contractions were about 3-4 min. apart and they had me wait for an eternity in the office waiting room! I guess I was only in there for about 15 min., but I was in labor waiting in a waiting room for the love of pete! I was so annoyed! When I got in to see the doc I was 5 cm and 90% effaced. Yes indeed I am in labor! I was admitted to labor and delivery at 11 am, by 12:40 pm I was 7 cm and 20 minutes later after one big push Kennedy Faith was born! And I am proud to say that she is my 3rd baby completely natural-no drugs and no interventions. And I am done-no more babies for me!

Super annoyed in the Dr's office.

This is Tim's job during my labors-my arm cannot be on my body and he has to hold it level. I know, it's weird! I have a picture of him doing this for all 3 of my children now.

Here she is! 8 lbs 4 oz. The biggest of the 3!

Proud Grandmas. Mimi (my mom) and Nana (Tim's mom). They were both there to see her birth.

She is in fact a girl!

Hello World!

Our first meeting. I'm in love!

Our new family of 5!

Brady was so excited to meet his new sister.

Mimi and her first grand-daughter.

Kennedy and her bros.

Nana and her first grand-daughter.

Proud daddy!

Hospital visitors-Ron & Barb

Pa Pa's favorite thing to do with the grand kids.

Heading home from the hospital after 2 days. The blanket is the one that my mom went home from the hospital in.

Finally home!

Brady and Mimi made Kennedy a birthday cake. Brady helped to "clean" off the utensils!

40 weeks of belly!

In the beginning I wasn't so excited about showing my belly, but now it is unmistakeably a 40 week baby bump! We took these photos at our "in home photo studio". I think they came out pretty well other than the fact that Grayson does not pose well for pictures these days. He is just too busy! So, we did what we could.

I was just goofin around for this one, testing the back drop, flash, positioning of me and such and it turned out to be one of my favorite shots.

Baby Shower

A few weeks ago I had my Baby Shower that my mom threw for me. It was lovely! It was fun to have a shower for a baby girl. Everything was pink or flowered or ruffled! We had some delicious food, played some silly games and ooooed and awwwed over lots of fun gifts! Thank you to all who could come and to those of who weren't there but sent gifts and well wishes anyway. You were there in my heart! This baby girl is so blessed to have so many people anxiously awaiting her arrival. I cannot wait to meet her and dress her up in all the cute clothes I've been recieving!

Adorable little outfit-Thank you Aunt Nancy & Uncle John!

Another one from Aunt Nancy-it says, "Does this diaper make my butt look big?" Too funny!
Yay! The bath tub! Thank you Kitty & Roger! Now she doesn't have dodge the boys in the tub!

Awwwww!!! Cute little hair bows! Thank you Monica!

Thank you everyone!Pretty cake from my favorite place-The Cake Shop. Yummy! The tablecloth underneath is the same material as the curtain and bedskirt (made by my mom) in baby girls room.

Oh so pretty! We used the bassinet my mom used when we were babies as the gift table.

Brady helped my mom pick out all the decorations and he insisted I needed this crown that says Mom to Be.

First Day of School!

Brady had his first day of Pre-kindergarten on August 29th. We enrolled him this year into the program at the public school. It's a brand new school about 2 minutes from our house and will be the same school he will go to next year for Kindergarten. He now goes every day from 11:30 am-2:45. He did great on his first day-no tears. Just gave a big wave and a see ya later Ma! My big boy! Sniffle sniffle!

Brady's 5th Birthday Party

We had Brady's birthday very early this year. His birthday is September 5th and my due date is September 11th. However, I delivered Grayson at 38 weeks, so if baby girl comes at 38 weeks as well that would be August 28th. Plus the kids go back to school on August 22nd, then theres Labor Day weekend and Brady's real birthday falls on Labor Day this year. So needless to say trying to plan Brady's birthday around all of this was challenging to say the least. Not to mention I am 9 months pregnant and don't have the energy or stamina to do my usual elaborate cake and have it at the house with fun decorations and games. So, I found a great place that provided the entertainment-nothing but bounce houses with slides and obstical courses and things to climb! and they did all the decorating for me. Brady requested cupcakes-bless his little heart, and wanted his 3 best buddies from school to be there. The party was a great success! The boys jumped and ran and climbed for a full hour then had 30 minutes to scarf down cupcakes and juice, tear into birthday presents and unload the contents of thier goody bags. It was great fun! We're so glad James, Nicco (and little brother) and Robbie (and little brother) could all come and celebrate! Thanks for making a great birthday!

Grayson, my resident daredevil, would have nothing to do with any of the bounce houses! He found this little riding toy that you rode down a ramp and just had a blast! He made Pa Pa push him down it for at least 20 minutes! Thank the Lord for Pa Pa!

Brady and his buddies.
Brady flying down one of the slides

Party room

I couldn't have just plain cupakes, so I found these little toppers online to print out and taped them to a lollipop stick. Simple, but adds a little more flare to his Kung Fu Panda party.

The other side of the party room-all decorated by the staff there at Pump it Up. I got to come in and approve 5 minutes before the party-so great!

The boys all ready for cupcakes-Brady said party hats were a must! Love it!

As soon as we got to Pump it Up they gave him an inflatable crown and sceptor, then they had this inflatable thrown for him to sit in and blow out his candles and open presents.

Grayson really enjoyed the cupcakes!

Opening presents. Present time at kids birthday party's always crack me up. All the kids have to be in the middle of it helping. It's a big group effort!

Then of course they all wanted to be in the chair!

The Men.

Pa Pa had the day off and was able to come help out, and Tim was able to leave work early and speed across town to make it there just in time for cake. Phew! The moms were on the other side of the room gabbin away!

36 weeks

I had my 36 week appt. yesterday. 36 weeks-that means I am 9 months pregnant, 4 weeks away from my due date, but 2 weeks away from when I delivered Grayson. I have gained exactly 25 lbs, so that means it is time for her to arrive. My blood pressure and pulse remain normal and low and I still don't have any swelling. At this appt. the Dr. did check my cervix and I am already 50% effaced (thinned out) and a good 1 cm (almost 2 cm) dilated and my belly is measuring at 37 cm, which is about a cm bigger than where I should be at this point. I have been having A LOT of braxton hicks with this pregnancy, so it seems some of them have been productive contractions. Hopefully they continue to be productive and she will be here in the next two and a half weeks. She has to hold off for 2 1/2 more weeks because my thoughtful husband got me mother's rings for mothers day with all my babies birthstones-including baby girls! So, if she is born in August I have to return the sapphire (Sept. birthstone which I LOVE!) and get the peridot (August birthstone, which is also my birthstone, which I don't think it the prettiest-bleck!). Therefor she must be born Sept. 1st. But no later than, because as we all know I am SOOOOOO ready to have this baby!!!!!!!! Here are my latest belly shots.

Holy Moley this belly is huge!!

Boys new room

Since we moved in to this house the boys have had their own room. But with Baby Girl on the way, I wanted to move Grayson and Brady into the same room and make Graysons old room Baby Girls room. Re-decorating the boys room and decorating Baby Girls room have been my latest obsession and it's finally complete! The boys sports room turned out great! Brady told me his new room is so cool-even with the addition of a little brother! And if you can believe it, since moving his brother into his room, Brady is now staying in bed all night. What a relief! When I was picking out new nightstands, Tim kept saying he could build them for way cheaper. So I said ok, give it a whirl. He just got all these fun new tools from my Grandpa when we were in MI, so why not give em a whirl! Well, it turns out they were way more labor intensive and did not end up any cheaper! But they did turn out really nicely! These things are like mini bookshelves! They look great though-and Daddy built them-way cool! Here are pictures of their new sports room!

Walking in the doorway to their room

Brady's nightstand-handmade by dad

Graysons nightstand-handmade by dad

This is out in the playroom. I have been wanting to hang this turtle quilt we got in Hawaii since we moved in and I finally got my dad to make me a shelf. It turned out great! Thank you Pa Pa! He also made a shelf for Baby Girls room to hold the quilt being made by Great Granny Dee. Pictures of her room are coming soon!