Happy 4th Birthday, Laurel!

Today is Laurel's 4th birthday and it was a wonderful day. We are so glad that Laurel came into our lives four years ago today - life has never been the same since that beautiful November day in Mountain View, California. Laurel is such an important part of our family. She adds so much life and laughter to our home.

We celebrated her special day by doing things her way for a day . . . . which is pretty much the way it is every day, but we try not to acknowledge that in her presence :-) We just tell her that she has one day each year when she calls the shots! Anyway, we had to be to church at 8:10 this morning so I could meet with our Bishop. While we were waiting, Laurel was telling everyone in the hallway that it was her birthday. For example, she walked up to the Ward Clerk and said, "actually, it's my birthday today and I'm 4 years old!" It was so sweet. When we walked into Sacrament Meeting, she sat down and declared that she was ready to have everyone in the congregation sing her the birthday song. She then wanted to get the miniature flashlight which the Primary hands out to each child on their birthday - I had no idea that she understood so much about birthdays!

After church, we came home and had lunch. Her request was macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, oranges, and green beans. We also had some of the birthday cake that she helped decorate - it turned out beautiful! We then opened her presents. She got a fun Dora the Explorer bicycle, some construction paper for all of her art projects, and a bike helmet, horn, and knee/elbow pads.

When I tucked Laurel into bed tonight, she got sad and told me, "mom, I don't want to be 5 - I want to be 4!" I thought that was so sweet - I told her that she doesn't need to worry about being 5 because she is 4. I hope she stays this way because I don't want her to grow up too quickly. It makes me sad!

My little cowboy and cowgirl

When in Texas, do as the Texans . . . so, that means raising a little cowboy and cowgirl! These are our two kids and we love them to pieces. I just wish I could freeze them in time so they wouldn't grow up so quickly!

Happy Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year. We invited our friends, the Blues, over for dinner and trick-or-treating. We ate taco soup and lots of goodies. Grandma Chris was in town, so she enjoyed taking the kids out trick-or-treating with us. Andrew is just over one month old in this picture and Laurel is 3 weeks shy of turning 4. The kids received lots of candy and had a lot of fun walking the neighborhood and ringing doorbells for treats.

Andrew's blessing

Andrew Reed Christensen received a name and blessing today at our church. Grandparents on both side were in attendance, as well as our good friends (the Nuttall's and Ryan and Katrina Pierce). Dale's blessing was beautiful - we are so thankful to finally have this special little boy in our lives. He, like Laurel, was well worth the wait.

Pumpkin Patch

Our town has a great pumpkin patch just down the road from us. We enjoyed taking both sets of grandparents to the pumpkin patch. There were hay rides, mazes, and lots of photo ops. We're already looking forward to next years patch.

Welcome to the world, Andrew Reed!

Andrew Reed was born on September 23rd at 9:30 pm. He measured 19 3/4 inches and weighed in at 6 pounds 10 ounces, just one ounce more than his sister when she was born. He is absolutely perfect and we feel so blessed that he has finally joined our family. Andrew was definitely well worth the wait!

Labor, take 2

Well, I went into what I thought was labor on Monday, September 17th after returning home from our friends home after a fun activity. I could hardly walk and I remember thinking that this is surely it. I waited a few more days and things died off a little. I began to feel more contractions on Thursday and they seemed to come every 3-5 minutes. I called the doctor on call and he told me to take it easy and try to make it to the weekend because the baby would be 4 weeks early. Friday wasn't much better, but that didn't stop me from cleaning the house from top to bottom, which I recognized as nesting so I knew the moment was not too far in the future. By Saturday evening, they were getting stronger and every 2-3 minutes. We got the go ahead from the doctor to go to the hospital for observation. We dropped Laurel off at the Nuttall's around 11:30 pm and arrived at the hospital at midnight. They hooked me up to monitors and discovered that I was 0 centimeters and pretty much not in full-blown labor. I was shocked! We walked the halls for several hours, hoping to get things moving, but nothing happened so they gave me a sleeping pill (I asked for that because I knew I wouldn't sleep with the contractions) and we headed home. We stopped off at Steak N Shake for a hamburger, because that was all we could find open at 4 am. All I remember from that drive through was the dancing hyacinth flowers I could see all over the menu . . . yes, I was experiencing a form of hallucination from the sleeping pill. I took a few bites from the burger and I don't remember anything else! Dale had to take the hamburger out of my hands as he drove home because I kept dropping it in our new car . . . oops.

I woke up on the 23rd rested and ready to go pick up Laurel from the Nuttall's. About 11 am, everything changed because my water broke. Once again, we were on our way to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital, they told me that my water was not broken . . . so, what was that supposed to mean? Did I wet my pants? No way! I assured them that I had, but they disagreed so I was back to square one, walking the halls for hours and hoping that this baby would really want to come. I was fortunate to have a great nurse who was on my side. She kept me there longer than they would have. By 4pm, I was finally a 2 and they decided that they would keep me.

I was so relieved that it was finally happening. I was only in my bed for maybe an hour or less before the nurse came in and said that Andrew's heartrate was dropping. They watched it a few more minutes and then the doctor was called in. I was only dilated to a 4 and had at least 8 more hours to go. The doctor made the decision to take me immediately in for a c-section. He didn't think that Andrew would be able to go 8 hours with increased contractions and a dropping heartrate. He said that it could be a cord issue, or something else. My doctor was called and at the hospital in 10 minutes. Next thing I know, I'm being wheeled into the OR and prepped for a c-section. It was all a little surreal. It was very different from Laurel's delivery, but there was a part of me that experienced relief because I didn't have to go through all of the labor and pushing for the next 8+ hours. Within a few minutes, Andrew was welcomed to the world. As the doctor suspected, he had a cord issue. His cord was tied in a know and then wrapped around his neck and legs. He never would have come out on his own. After cleaning him up, they placed him on my chest, and in my drugged out state, I feared I would drop him. I immediately handed this precious boy to my husband and shut my eyes. I had finally brought this long awaited boy into the world and I was exhausted!