She Has Arrived!

8 lbs 14 oz 21 in

Couldn't be happier

He's pretty excited too

September 16 at 7:51 we welcomed Ava Lou Haack into our family. On Tuesday I was told by the doctor that she was still high and no dilation was happening. I was rather discouraged thinking an induction next week might be needed. Wednesday I started having inconsistent but intense contractions and at 1 pm things really started moving along with my water partially breaking. Right away the contractions were 5 min apart but I was nervous to get to the hospital too early. It didn't take long for me to decide that I didn't care if it was too early, I was going!! Mom and I left and picked up Jerem from work. We checked in around 4-4:30 and found I was only dilated to a two. I was rather disappointed thinking we had a long wait ahead of us. The contractions were still as intense if not getting worse accompanied by back labor. 20 min later I was a 4 and by the time the Dr got there an hr after we checked in I was 6. He basically said, "if you want something for pain, get it now cause you won't have another chance, she's coming fast". I was too far along for an epidural so we opted for something else I forget the name of. All I know is it took the pain away! Woohoo! It started to wear off around 7 I think, I had kinda lost track of time. Anyway, by the time it was time to push I could feel each contraction again and there was no turning back! After pushing for awhile...probably not long...the Dr said "2 more and she'll be out", "wait", I said " two more PUSHES or two more CONTRACTIONS???" He meant contractions, which in my mind at that time meant an eternity. Turns out the 2 contractions went pretty fast and before I knew it I was holding Ava. It was so surreal to me that 24 hrs earlier I thought I was never going to be done being pregnant and here I was with her in my arms. We are now home and doing great.

Waiting for the bus

Anson officially has a week of school under his belt and Paige had her first day yesterday. As I write this she is still in bed sleeping, must have worn her out.

Still Here

I tried putting up the tradition "first day" of school pics, but they wouldn't load. So I gave up. I am still here, no baby, just busy. I'm not sure what it is about a baby coming that makes a person think the ENTIRE house needs redecorating, like the kid cares, right? This week my family got here on Monday, mom and 5 kids, so it's been a busy week. I should have taken pictures of the paint job when the house was easier to keep clean. :) Our current project is a closet redo. Mom is having lots of fun with it so hopefully I'll have pictures to post of that soon too. Maybe I'll just wait until I can put up pictures of everything before you see our living room/kitchen redo. I'm still hoping that I'll be posting a birth announcement before then, but our dear daughter doesn't seem interested in meeting us. Still carrying high, no dilation, effacement, anything. So Jill, yeah, you just might go before me. I'm not sure if the doctor really thought it was helpful, but at my last appointment he mentioned women having 10-11 lb babies, like he thinks I'm a candidate for that. REALLY????? I really truly hope not! So until next time, when you think of us, picture a busy house, getting food on the table for 10, kids out the door to school in the morning, and hoping each contraction is a sign of something going on.

"New" Living Room

The love seats before. Sorry...couldn't flip it around

Heres some pictures of our new love seats. Wish I had a picture of the living room the old way, but I forgot to take one. I love how they turned out, THANK YOU GRANDMA MARGE! I found the fabric in Blackduck for about $2.50/yd. Can't beat that! So thankful for a new look after 7 years.

Too Ambitious....Maybe?

Okay, so, umm....where to start. We just got home yesterday from a lovely week in Rochester, and by lovely, I mean absolutely refreshing and relaxing. Now it's back to reality, right? I made my little list of things to do today.
1. Pick and can green beans
2. Put clothes away
3. Clean bathroom
4. Do 2 loads of laundry....etc, etc.....
You get the idea...typical things that need to be done after being gone for a week. So I accomplished 1-4 on the list before getting distracted. Actually, that's not true, I have only done 1 load of laundry. So, back to the distraction. It doesn't take much for me, I am busy doing something, have something else in my head that I'd like to see done and before I know it I'm not getting much done at all. Oh, and Jerem, if you're reading this before you've come home, you can stop reading now and just dwell on the fact that I've done items 1-4.

This story really starts back in June when Mjean and I and Marge did a garage sale. Mjean was trying to sell some old love seats, really she was trying to get rid of them since they were kinda old and dirty. But after sitting across from them for 4 hrs, staring.....they kinda grew on me. So much in fact that I decided to take them off her hands and get them recovered. They are now ready for us to pick up and I am so excited to have a change in the living room before the baby comes. We are hoping to get them tonight or tomorrow and since I'm so excited, I, of course, want to be prepared as possible by this evening. Prepared as in moving the 8 foot long couch OUT of the living room and rearranging in anticipation. Since I am 8 1/2 months pregnant I don't lift...I might make some people mad if they heard I lifted. So I scooted the couch to one door. Wouldn't fit. I scooted it back. You see, the beauty in trailer houses is they make the doors/halls/and porches at such complicating angles so that it is nearly impossible to move anything out or in via anything but a window. In the last 6 months we have moved a grill in (in the box...needed to be wrapped..was -29 outside), and a bunk bed. Oh, and now a couch. I admit, it's a tad tricky "scooting" a couch out of a window, but with Anson's strong muscles to help we got'r'done. And to think, I only put a couple (small) holes in the door and bent the screen for the window. I think it can be fixed.

36 weeks, 28 days, 4 weeks

Whichever way I look at it...I'm getting down to the end! I'm officially 36 weeks pregnant which means I have 4 weeks left! Woohoo. Of course in my pregnancy state of mind I'm HOPING I'll go early, but seeing as how that didn't happen with Anson or Paige I probably won't. I'll just resign myself to getting larger and larger and smiling with a shake of the head when strangers ask if I'm SURE I'm not having twins. Yes, its happened more then you'd guess.

I'm spending my 36th week in a very enjoyable way though. The kids and I drove to Rochester for the week to spend some end-of-summer days with grandpa and grandma. Of course me and my wild imagination had conjured up all sorts of scenarios of me going into labor on the way here, which surprise surprise, never happened. It doesn't take the kids long to remember whose house they're at either. Anson one day, wanted another cookie, we were trying to get him to actually ASK for it. His response? "Well, I already know grandma will give it to me, cause she gives me everything I want." We are all getting very rested though, especially me who has not been allowed to lift a finger to cook or anything, I could see myself getting used to this! :)

Hopefully only a couple more posts from me before I'll be posting about the arrival of our little girl! We can't wait!

Daddy's Hunter

Some very generous friends gave Anson an old youth bow that their boys had outgrown. He was very excited to get it all set up and use it for the first time! Jerem was very proud of his hunter-to-be!