big brothers meet their little sister!

[this post never actually got posted back in October! whoops!]

Seeing the boys meet their little sister is one of my favorite memories! Deric had told them to be quiet before they came in the room so they were both doing their best to whisper. I had them sit on the bed next to me so they could get a good look at her and they each got to take a turn holding her for a few minutes.

Both boys were so gentle and sweet with her, carefully touching her head or looking at her fingers. I remember Jake showing Reid how little her fingers were which prompted Reid to ask about her toes, so I unwrapped her blanket so he could see her tiny feet. Reid (gently) poked her cheeks a few times and continually told Deric, "Daddy, that baby Reagan!"

 I'm so glad that Deric was able to get a video of the boys' first few minutes with her. Anytime I watch the video again I start to tear up! They are already such great big brothers to her.

little lady has arrived!

Reagan Jane was born October 11, three days after her due date. Those three days may have been the longest of my life! I'd been anxiously watching for signs of labor for a couple of weeks preceding her due date and the days were passing so slowly by this point. On Monday morning--my due date-- I had a doctor's appointment and we decided that if nothing occurred before Thursday morning, I would come in that day for a non-stress test and we would decide what to do then. I told my doctor that I'd like to be induced that day and she was fine with that. She was pretty certain that I'd be headed to the hospital well before Thursday because I had experienced some signs of early labor and was dilated to a 3. I just hoped she was right!

On Monday evening, I experienced contractions while I was making dinner for the boys and hustling them to Jake's soccer practice. The timer app I was using told me repeatedly to head to the hospital but the contractions weren't getting stronger even though they were anywhere from four to ten minutes apart. Plus, Deric was still at work, we were at soccer and I didn't have any of the boys' things packed for staying with their grandparents. At soccer practice I let my friends know and we were all certain that I'd be headed to the hospital at some point that evening. When we got home, we put the boys to bed like usual and packed their bags and cleaned up the house. At this point, the contractions had been consistent for a few hours but they still weren't feeling even remotely painful, just uncomfortable. So I sat down on the couch to watch tv for a bit and the contractions disappeared, almost completely. I was so disappointed but as I went to bed I figured they would probably kick back up sometime overnight. You can imagine my disappointment when I woke up Tuesday morning and realized nothing had happened overnight!

^my friend Lindsey took our photo Monday night after soccer, when we were all so sure this would be our last night as a family of four!

All day Tuesday, I was in such a terrible mood. I kept hoping for contractions to start again and nothing happened. Wednesday-- same story. So on Thursday morning I headed to the doctor's office for an 8:00am non-stress test. I wasn't honestly sure what the purpose of the test was but followed orders and just prayed we'd get to induce that day as planned. As it turns out, Reagan technically failed the non-stress test because she didn't move as much as she should have (although I could feel her moving so thankfully, I wasn't worried!) I was still only dilated to a 3 but the doctor said because she failed the test, we'd definitely go ahead with the induction. I left the doctor's around 10 and was told to be at the hospital at noon. I headed home where Deric had been cleaning up the house and getting the boys ready to go. We played a few puzzles with the boys, they ate an early lunch and we went to drop the boys off with Deric's mom and go to the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital we went through all the routine prep-- paperwork, pitocin, an epidural shortly after because I'm a total wimp. ;) All of that was finished around 2:00 or 3:00 and we settled in to wait. I assumed this induction would be similar to Reid's and we would be waiting a full twelve hours before the baby came. We chatted with our really friendly nurse, watched HGTV, I texted family any updates but by the evening, nothing was going on. Around 6:45pm, my nurse checked and I was only dilated to a 4. I was so disappointed. I clearly remember laying on my side and texting Sarah at 7:05 that I was still only a 4 and that I was so bored and hungry.

Just a few minutes after texting Sarah, a different nurse came in and said she wanted to check a few things on the monitor. I told her that I was actually starting to feel the contractions again and asked her to increase the epidural. She told me she was going to check to see how far dilated I was--just in case-- and she gave me oxygen as well. She checked and told me I was actually at 10cm and that I was going to have the baby soon! I was completely thrown off and she hustled out of the room to get things ready. (Deric told me later that as she left, she told me not to push.)

(Side note: After Reagan was born, I was trying to piece together what happened and I asked our original nurse why a different nurse came in to check on me. She explained that she'd gone to the cafeteria to get dinner and as she was about to get her food, they paged her for delivery. She said she didn't believe that I was already ready to deliver and had to sprint upstairs to get back in time!)

Right away our doctor came in and got suited up, nurses got everything ready and all the sudden I was being told to push when I felt a contraction! Thankfully the epidural was still working enough that I could feel contractions but they weren't unbearably painful. So when the next contraction hit, I pushed. As soon as the contraction waned, my doctor told me that the baby was crowning already. I pushed through the next contraction and it took me a minute to realize that Deric and the doctor were talking about her cheeks-- they could already see her face! The doc said one more good push to get her shoulders out and she was outta there. So I pushed as hard as I could on that last contraction and there she was! I was in such shock from how quickly things had escalated that I could hardly believe I was already holding her. She was born at 7:23pm-- in less than twenty minutes! I'm so thankful for such a quick and easy delivery (that definitely makes up for being overdue!)

Reagan was a perfect baby right from the start. She laid on my chest for a good while and eventually nursed so easily. She slept well those first few nights and woke up when she needed to eat with no problem.

I'm so grateful that she's finally here! I would take all the nighttime nursing sessions and laundry piles
 over being pregnant any day. ;) Reagan is the best addition to our family!

a space-themed Halloween!

Halloween was so much fun this year! Every year has gotten more fun as the boys understand trick-or-treating a little more, plus I love seeing them dressed up in their costumes. We had friends over for dinner and then scoured the neighborhood with them. I feel like we got a late start on trick or treating but we started at 6! We had a group of kids ring the doorbell at 5:30 and it totally surprised me. So by the time we headed out just a little later, it seemed like we were the last ones out the door...and we were the last ones walking home at 7:45, surprisingly!

Jake was hung up between being a robot or an astronaut for probably a month leading up to Halloween! I'll admit, I steer his decisions based on what I can feasibly create, but he also loves robots and astronauts so I didn't feel too bad. ;) But then after looking online for costume ideas, I worked harder to steer him in the astronaut direction because 1) we already have an astronaut costume and 2) the diy robots just weren't that much fun unless you want to go all out with a cardboard head, and I knew Jake would hate to wear that. So he settled on the astronaut as long as he could have a "robot" jet pack, aka a jet pack he could actually play with! That was just fine with me. Deric figured out the jet pack while I worked on making Reid a rocket ship costume.

(I thought I might have better luck with some photos if I put them in their costumes earlier that afternoon before the excitement but clearly, no. Reid couldn't stand the thought of staying *on* the porch long enough to get a picture!)

This one's a framer. ;)

I love how the rocketship costume turned out but it was freezing that night. So after we stuffed Reid into two jackets, the costume was a *bit* snug. (I'd planned for just one jacket!) But he didn't care. He managed to walk to a few houses and then Reid and our friends' youngest snuggled up in the double stroller and let the big kids get the candy for them. Smart move!

We loved being able to trick or treat in our own neighborhood this year and meet a few more neighbors! It makes me excited for years to come and traditions to continue!

camping trip!

Last week we packed up  every blanket and jacket we own (or at least it felt like it!) and camped at Raccoon Lake, a gorgeous campground less than an hour west of us. We booked a campsite about a month ago with only a recommendation to go off of and totally loved it. We've got plans to go back as soon as we can. (Unfortunately the temperatures at night have really dropped just in the last few days so we may have to wait until spring!) We only planned for one night because we weren't sure how Reid would do or how everyone would sleep and although we all would have loved to stay another night, judging by how quickly the boys fell asleep on the way home-- I think we wore them out!

We set up camp pretty quickly....once we switched campsites and hauled stuff to the new one. Not in our plans but the campsite we'd reserved backed up to a drop off and I couldn't handle the added worry about Reid! Our campsite was perfectly positioned between the bathrooms, playground and water source so we wandered over to the playground while our sweet potatoes cooked in the fire for dinner.

Easy but delicious dinner! Brats, sweet potatoes and fruits/veggies on the side. It balanced out the s'mores that came later. ;)

The campsite we switched to backed up to a trail that led down to the lake so after dinner, we hiked down and spent some time exploring and throwing rocks into the lake, of course. Jake's working on skipping rocks and got one or two with some practice! He had so much fun running along the shore, climbing the rocks and jumping off.

We keep a soccer ball and shovels in the back of the van at all times! They almost always come in handy.

One of us always has a hand on this child when we're outside ;)

Deric's been training him in the art of silly faces for every picture. ;)

Jake sat up with us that night and we looked at the stars while warming up by the fire before going to bed. He is at such a perfect age for camping and he loved every bit of it. Exploring the lake and the campsite, helping roast brats and marshmallows, looking at the stars...hands down the best part of the trip was watching how much he enjoyed it.

My favorite part of camping: the food! Even though we didn't do anything gourmet, drinking hot chocolate and eating breakfast by the fire (even if it was a bit wiggly with Reid!) is so fun. And man if he didn't look adorable in his penguin jammies! I almost didn't want to change his clothes for hiking.

Little brother watching big brother throw the walnuts!

Deric cooked hash browns over the fire and admitted he burned them a bit because of the uneven flame. For some reason Jake thought it was hilarious and kept talking about "the burnt hash browns!" As in, "Mom, can I have more burnt hash browns? I'm almost done with my burnt hash browns!"

Hilarious...and still delicious.

The lake is surrounded by hills and trails wind up and down these hills, over bridges and up log stairs. One of the trail heads was right by us so the next morning after breakfast, we loaded Reid up in the backpack and went out to explore.

Jake was so happy out on the trails. We always designate him our navigator and let him "read" the maps to figure out where to go (with some helpful hints along the way!) He was singing and running and playing and having so much fun. There were so many pretty views of the lake that I'm bummed I couldn't capture them on camera!

Wish we could go back this weekend, but we'd freeze our rears off if we did! I'm so glad we were able to squeeze in a trip on the last week of beautiful weather!

backyard campout!

We took advantage of a blissfully cool weekend in August to do a camping trial run in our backyard! We've got plans to go camping over fall break in October but I wanted to be certain that everyone would sleep well before we traveled to a campsite. We (Deric) set up the tent outside and we left it empty so the boys could play in it for a few hours while we had friends over for dinner. After dinner and s'mores, our friends headed home and we set up our 'campsite'. I put Jake's crib mattress in the tent for his bed and the pack n play for Reid, and they were just as comfortable as if they were in their own beds! We got them ready for bed inside and then read books in the tent by flashlight until they were drowsy. I went back inside to clean up dinner for a few minutes after we put the boys in their beds and when I came back out, they were asleep! That cool night air is magic I tell ya. Our original plan was to stay up and sit on our patio by the firepit once the boys were asleep but we ended up going to bed soon after the boys did. And really, that was what we needed. We all woke up around 7:00 the next morning when the sun came up and that was the most sleep I've gotten in one night in a while!

It makes me excited for our camping trip coming up soon because sleeping in fresh air is so refreshing! And of course, the boys will love playing in the tent, cooking over a campfire, exploring the lake near the campsite...we're ready for fall break!

first day of pre-K!

Jake started prekindergarten at church a few weeks ago! He goes three mornings a week just until noon. He loves school so far and has had no hesitations about going, excluding a few minutes of nerves when we dropped him off on the first day and he realized we were leaving him there. ;) But he comes home and tells me about the things he made and the snack he had--so many cupcakes right now to celebrate all those summer birthdays!--and then I pry more information out of him because I just wish I could be a fly on the wall in his classroom.

I believe Deric was saying something along the line of "eyeballs" to get these genuine laughs and smiles...what a goob!

I took the inside photos first that morning and I wasn't sure if I got a good one so I lucked out and got some genuine smiles on the front porch too!

I love seeing him put on his backpack each morning! He just looks so big and so small at the same time. Its hard to believe he's already old enough for "school" and that his real school career will be here in no time! But he's so ready and I'm proud of all the new things he's accomplished lately!