Miryn's Birth Day

Dear Miryn,

I wanted to make sure and record some of my memories regarding your birth for you to read one day.  I actually wrote things down on a note card last Friday so I wouldn't forget anything.

The Thursday night your mom went into labor was an odd night of weather.  We live in Wenatchee and it was windy, rainy, and thundering and lightning on this evening.  I talked with your Grandma Debi, like we always do on Thursday nights, and when we hung up I said, "I hope I see you this week-end sometime in the hospital".  We both agreed to that.

This was also the first Thursday night of the NFL Football season and your Daddy and Uncle Dave and cousin Logan are in a Fantasy Football League this year.  Uncle Dave's favorite player, Peyton Manning, was playing tonight.  At one point, your mom texted Dave with a message of how well Peyton played (he had 7 touchdowns this night, tying an NFL record).  Dave texted her back to stop watching the game and start walking up and down the stairs.   That must have been just enough to do the trick...

I got a text at 12:40 AM that your mom had been admitted into Kadlec Hospital.  And I quickly texted back that I'd come in the morning and to please text me if you arrived sometime in the middle of the night.  Looking back, I really wish I would have just came at that time.  Then at 1:23 AM I received a picture of your Dad in his "birth coach" shirt and I texted back that I was debating on driving now.  Your Dad (I think) texted me, "she's at 3cm. the morning will be fine...don't worry about it".  Then I moved downstairs to the couch to sleep in case I'd get more texts that night.  I fell back asleep.

My alarm was set for 5:45 and when it went off I considered texting Sam and Nate right away.  I figured maybe they'd be sleeping or laboring, and I didn't want to disturb them if that was the case.  I went ahead and started getting ready and getting your cousins ready for school.  I was just planning to get Harper off to pre-school and just wait for official word that you had made your arrival.  I know about this time things got a little hectic in the delivery room, but I don't know all the details of that.

Finally, at 7:41 I received the text that I wanted to see from your Aunt Amy, "she's here".  I was actually loading up the kids and yelling at Dave,  "Samee had the baby" and "I"m driving straight there after I drop the kids off".  Presley was begging me to let her skip school so she could come.  Amy texted me a picture right away and I passed it back as I was driving for the kids to see their new cousin.

I was on the road by about 8:10 with Harper.  I asked her what she wanted to name the baby and first she said, "baby" and then she said,  "Harper" and then she settled on "Juliette and Rosie".

This is the way the sky looked coming into Richland.  

 We made it to Kadlec at about 10:30 and I saw your parents new car as I was looking for a spot.  I think it's hilarious that at midnight when they got to the hospital, your dad thought to put up the sun shade on the dash of the car.

I needed some help finding the maternity ward.  You were born in Suite 3.

Harper was pretty excited to see you... 

and touch you...

and hold you...

When Grandma and I went to her house to eat lunch, your Papa was there and he had already looked at the morning newspaper to see which celebrities shared your birthday.  He said he only recognized one person's name, Max George from the music group, The Wanted. 

Your Daddy was very attentive to your mommy.  Here he was listening to the nurse explain how to make ice packs for her swollen bottom.

He was also concerned about getting the swaddling just right.  He couldn't quite get you tight enough...soon we'd see your little tootsies make their way out of the blanket. 

Rumor has it that the moment you were born, your Daddy went over to you and said loudly, "Now cry".  And you did.  Your grandma heard this exchange. 

You had lots of visitors this day...

Grandma Kreider 

Papa Berries

Cristy

Tona

Tricia too. 

 She wasn't feeling too well and didn't want to expose you to any germs. 

At some point your mom got some food.

And we talked names and spellings...

We headed down to the hospital cafeteria before Harper and I left and I heard your mom say, "I haven't held her very much".  So I felt kind of bad about that.  You breastfed very well today. 

Harper fell asleep on the way home for a little while and when she woke up she immediately asked for my phone and she thumbed through the pictures of you that I took today.  She also said to me, "I like that baby" and asked when "do we get to keep that baby". 

When we got home the kids were so happy to see more pictures of you.  Logan was enamored with your feet picture, Presley just ooh'ed and aah'ed, over all of them and said, "oh she's so cute" like a hundred times, and Ry asked, "was I so tiny too?".  

The next couple of days' pictures from Amy...

getting ready to head home...
I was with your mommy in Portland when she bought this dress for you, thinking it would be the one she'd bring you home in.  

Making new friends at your new house. 

I think your favorite number should be SIX.  You were born on the September SIX,  you weighed SIX pounds, SIX ounces, your mom was THIRY SIX when she had you, you have SIX cousins and the Nelson family of SIX love you very much!!  

Skip the 2nd day of Pre-School? For only ONE reason...

And she decided to make her debut 3 days early.  Our sweet baby cousin and niece made her grand arrival on Friday, September 6th at 7:28 AM.

It started with a text from Nate at 12:40 AM that Samee was at 3CM and had been admitted into Kadlec Hospital.

And then I received some text pics starting about 1:30 AM which I was loving...

I think this face told Nate he better get his official shirt on...

I told Nate I'd be on my way but he told me to wait til the morning and I asked him to keep me posted if she had the baby in the night.  I didn't hear another word, so I got up, got ready, got the kids ready, and was prepared to get Harper off to school when I received official word at 7:41 AM with this picture from Amy.  And I don't think it could get any sweeter than a picture like this... 

Or this...

And so Harper played hookie from pre-school and we headed down to meet the newest member of our family.  She was so tiny....bitty, bitty baby!!  Six pounds, six ounces and 19 1/4 inches long.  We got there at about 10:30 and here's the second picture I got of her.  I swear the Mondo Burrito Dave orders is bigger than her...ha ha.  

Being born is tough work for a little gal. 

I'm pretty sure she was sad her Aunt Leanna didn't have a bow for her. 

Within minutes of Harper and I arriving the nurses came in to try to get Samee up and moving and they were very tired from being up all night so we all left so they could get some rest.  Mom, Harper, and I went shopping.  I'm proud that I fixed the no-bow situation.  We had lunch and came back for another visit at about 3:00.  I was happy I got some bow pictures. 

Our two youngest members...Harper was so, so happy to get to hold her.

Tricia, Cristy, and Tona came for a visit at that same time and Grandma Kreider and Aunt Linda walked in as we were leaving at about 5:00.  I was hoping to see my Grandpa but we needed to leave, and I do know he showed up later.

So happy to see two become three.  

Welcome to the world baby Miryn.

(Or Meryn, or Marin, or Maryn)  

(Still undecided on the spelling)

Harper's Big Day

This morning was Harper's first day of pre-school.  As expected, she was not nervous at all...hardly glanced backward as she walked in to the play (free choice) area of her school.  I ran to Costco and Hobby Lobby and did some laundry until it was time to get her.  The first thing she said when she got in the car was that there are "no tweats" allowed.  She ate her M and M treat from her lunch bag on the way home.  She also said she painted and made a new friend, but didn't know her name.  School wore her out, she napped this afternoon.  A great day for this big girl and her mama too.

I made four lunches this morning...a first of many for me. 

  Rylan was being so sweet this morning...packed her lunch in her bag and was showing Harper how to work the zipper on her backpack.  

Big Girl ready for her day...

Waiting in the car...

Walking in with Dad...

I don't think she knew what all the fuss was about.  She hung her backpack and was ready to head in.  I had to ask her to stand for one last picture. 

Just for a moment I thought I'd go back in time. 

Logan, Presley, and Ry on their first days of pre-school.  

Back to School: September 3, 2013

Summer is all wrapped up and it was back to that darn alarm...BLECH!!

The kids woke up and were very excited this morning.  Presley came in my bathroom and was going potty and said, "it seems like yesterday I was going to kindergarten".  They had already picked out their outfits for the day and the boys took showers, got dressed, put shoes on, backpacks packed, and breakfast eaten.  We were taking pictures and loading up in the car by 7:40.

Logan had told us last night that he didn't think he wanted us to walk him in, but he wasn't 100% sure.  I offered to walk him in as we were driving up, but he said no, he was alright.  

This new 6th grader on his way to Foothills Middle School

I was praying in the car that he'd find a friend right when he walked through the doors.  And I really wanted to yell out "I Love You".

Then we made our way to Sunnyslope Elementary to drop off our first and fourth graders.  They were super thrilled about going to school.

We took Ry to his class first.  He was all business--backpack away, quick kiss on the cheek, and he remembered from Root Beer Social Night exactly where his seat was and he sat down.

Presley held my hand all the way to her fourth grade class.  She told me she felt nervous, but got her backpack in her locker right away and then she seemed embarassed her Dad and mom were with her.  She gets giggly and smiles really big when she's nervous.

When we loaded back up into the car Harper said to me, "NOW we are alone."  It's her turn tomorrow.

Labor Day Week-End

We didn't have much planned for Labor Day.  I knew that it was the last hurrah before school started and wanted to have a laid back, no fuss type of week-end.  I think we were pretty successful at that.

On Thursday night, Presley was invited to stay the night at her best friend Taylor's house.  I dropped her off about 6.  I love getting texts like this...

We have promised Presley all summer long that we would take her to the new One Direction 3D movie that came out on Friday.  Dave wasn't busy this Friday, so I took Presley and Taylor to the 1:00 showing while he stayed home with Logan, Ry, and Harper.  It was packed full of crazy and loud teenage girls.  Presley loved, loved, loved it though and I was glad to get to be with her.

And then this happened on Saturday....

Rylan saw his bike in the garage and decided he'd like to give it a try without his training wheels.  At first we raised up the training wheels so they weren't really touching the ground and I told him if he could make two big circles without touching, I'd take off the wheels.  Five minutes later, they were off.   I have not once got the bikes out this summer, and I don't even have an excuse for that.  But just like that, we've got ourselves another biker, and he loves it.  I probably could have done this back in June.  He did so awesome and was so brave.  He rode around in the circle area for the rest of the week-end every chance he got.  And we did a lot of watching from the garage...

Saturday night we celebrated Patty's birthday party at the Gillin's house.  There was music and dancing and dinner.  The kids and I danced to Ride, Sally, Ride (I don't know if this is the official name of the song).  All the kids went into the middle of the circle and showed off their dance skills.  Ry showed off his impressive Gangham Style moves.  It was such a fun time.

On Sunday night, Dave and Logan had a fantasy football draft in the Tri-Cities.  I decided not to go and instead took the others to the Lake Chelan Waterslides.  I don't have any pictures because I actually went down the slides this time.  The kids discovered the lazy river so we went around and around on that.  It was 93 degrees out but that didn't stop them from wanting to spend a lot of time in the hot tub.

Monday was the kids' last official day of summer break.  They decided they wanted to spend the day at Lake Chelan with the inner tubes.  So we took a few hours and played in the water and the sand.  I was secretly trying to wear them out so they'd sleep well for school tomorrow.

Presley and I have been planning a Back to School dinner this week.  She wanted to help cook spaghetti, corn on the cob, watermelon, mozzarella bites, and taquitos (this one was totally her idea).  She helped me cook, set the table, got the drinks ready, and helped clean up.

I took a couple of fun pictures as the kids were heading up for reading time.   

What a great way to end a great summer.  First day of school tomorrow!!

As I was typing this Logan came down to tell me he felt nervous about being at a new and bigger school.  Dave and I took a few minutes to talk to him.  I think he's good now.  

Lake Chelan Week-end

We spent the week-end of August 17th-19th in Lake Chelan.  Logan was invited to play in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament with a couple of the Eastmont boys.   These are boys that Logan would have went to school with had we not moved to the Tri-Cities.  There were several teachers that had boys the same year Logan was born that worked with Dave when he taught those few years at Eastmont.  Anyways, it was a very nice invite.  Logan played well with these Eastmont kids.

On Friday, I took Presley, Rylan, and Harper to the waterslides.  Presley unexpectedly met up with a couple friends there and spent the day going down slides with them so I don't have any pictures of her.

Logan's team played 3 games on Saturday and one on Sunday.  They had 2 wins and 2 losses so they didn't place this time.  Lance Noell is one of the boys' dad and he coached them this time.  He is the new principal at Eastmont High School.  He was having a fun time teasing our Wenatchee boy.

In between games we let the kids play in the park and swim in the Lake.  Presley had such a fun time swimming way out to this floating cube and jumping off of it.  Logan and the boys pushed each other off of it.  Ry and Harper had a good time playing in the sand.  It was a hot week-end and we were thankful to be so close to the water.

After the Sunday game we headed home over the Beebe Bridge and stopped for milkshakes.  I got a text from Amy asking us to Face Time them for Alyson's purity ceremony.  Here we are finally connected via FaceTime...we're definitely no techies, but this was kind of fun to get to see even though we weren't right there.  My mom held their IPad during the ceremony so sometimes we were watching her legs when she'd set it in her lap.  I was happy to be a part of it from afar.