Summer is here - and so are the storms and the goodbyes:(

What a day!
With working in the place I do, I get to meet many wonderful families, and since we live in a medical town, many of them don't stay forever. Today I said bye to one of my favorite families and I came to the conclusion that I am not a big fan of the residents leaving season! Me being all hormonal (I blame it on new mommy hormones still!) goodbyes are a sure way to get the waterworks going!
So, instead, they will now be "See you later"s instead. Good luck to all my resident friends and their families! I have loved getting to know you all, and wish you the best in your futures. I hope that it won't be too long before I get to see you guys again. I know I have my mind set on a girls trip to Vegas for sure:)

Then, if that was not bad enough - we got one of those nasty summer storms. You know, thunder, lightning, warnings on the TV, tornadoes touching down places! If you have every been to Norway and experienced a thunderstorm there you would laugh at me. I was terrified of storms there, and the ones in the US are SO much worse! Kevin has gotten so used to me being terrified that if the storms start at night he'll just automatically roll over in bed and hold around me - knowing I am shaking in fright! For real, I am really that afraid! I try to be brave for the kids (at least until they are sleeping!) but man that is hard!
Anyways, I have yet to look outside since the worst of the storm passed, but from what my fellow Rochester people are posting on Facebook, it does not look good out there. At least we did not have tornadoes touch here, but wind gusts up to 70mph is a lot! So, when this post is done, I will be heading up and out to check out the damage.

I am not a big fan of Minnesota Winters either.....makes me wonder when the time to head home is! I would be able to handle a Norwegian thunderstorm all by myself after 11 years in MN!

Summer is here

at least the kids are off on Summer break now. It started out cold and rainy, got hot and humid, and stormy! I am hoping for a summer like last year, when we only had the AC on for a few days early on:)

Michael is thrilled to be off from school, but not so much about getting up to go to work with me. He participated in a track meet on Tuesday - pictures to come.

Victoria wishes school was still in session, and has been my early bird this week. She also ran in the track meet - pics to come again.

Madeline is still adjusting to a later nap, loves baby sister and being outside!

Kaia is growing like a weed. She is 2 months old today. We go in tomorrow for her 2 month appointment. She is such a fun baby, and she sleeps through the night every now and then. Since I feed on demand it is a hit or miss if we get the last feeding done at the right time for bedtime, but that is ok.

We had another showing today, before the big storm hit. Hopefully it turns into a sale. Of course, I know not to get my hopes up. We have one house we really like, and another one on our list to check out, so if we do happen to sell our house soon, at least we're thinking of our new home:)

We're heading to Kevin's parents place this weekend as his younger sister is coming with her family from OK. We're very excited to see them again, and to meet the youngest addition to their family (she is almost 1!). We'll also celebrate Father's Day there and Lois' birthday.
Then we'll head home for two weeks before my parents fly in (barring no natural catastrophes or strikes or anything like that). We're very excited to see them again, especially since my mom has yet to meet her youngest grandchild. While they are here, Kevin's older sis will be coming to visit with her two kids, and after my parents leave we'll go camping at Kevin's aunt's lake with them, and the rest of the Minnesota in-laws. It will be busy but fun I am sure!
The month of August will be a work month, except for a week when the older two kids are (at least the plan is that they will) spending with grandma and grandpa in Moorhead. Kevin and I do not have big plans since we'll have the little two girls still, but I am hoping we can come up with something other than watching movies at home:)

So, pictures to come later. Kevin has the memory card packed away somewhere. I really do need to get some new pictures up here though. And hopefully I will be able to keep up with blogging as well...

3 weeks old

I have yet to take more pictures of Kaia, but wanted to write a little about her growing:)
I took her in on Monday (a few days over 3 weeks old) and she weighed in at 8lbs 13 oz (1oz) short of where Madeline was at birth! She was 21 1/2 inches long too, so she is for sure growing! It just feels so funny that she is still not the size her big sis was at birth!
She is doing great, eating well obviously, sleeping good at night, and in general is a happy baby. Not a whole lot of crying unless she is very tired and hungry. She lets us know when it is cuddle time, and I love that:) I think she'll end up being a tummy sleeper and she falls asleep as soon as I try giving her tummy time!

She is outgrowing her newborn clothes, although the 0-3 month clothes are still big. This is my first kiddo who actually fit in newborn clothes though, so that is cool:) She is still in newborn diapers, but I see a move up into 1's as soon as we finish the newborn pack we have. The 1's will be a bit big, but I don't think they will for very long. My first one to actually wear newborn diapers and fit into them too:)

Madeline is doing great with her baby sister. She loves to hold her, kiss her and sing for her.
Victoria is awesome help and makes Madeline happy whenever need be.
Michael is the greatest help I have, much due to him being the oldest and wanting to help out I think. I think he is Madeline's favorite person these days. Yesterday she was having a rough time at MOPS, but as soon as he came in she was ok with me leaving:)
Kevin is back to work, but still takes on a lot of the slack at home. He still won't let me carry much stuff and will give me the "slightly evil eye" if I lift something I am not supposed to or don't ask for help:) Gotta love this guy!

Sleep is going well too. Kaia slept from 10:30 until 4:15 last night! It was great. However, I tend to not be able to go back to sleep after feeding her so I get a bit of reading in in the early morning hours:)

Our house is still listed. Had a showing this past weekend, but nothing came of it. It would be great to sell the house, but I guess patience is a virtue and is certainly needed in the current home buyers market.

The kids have Awana Awards night this evening - the last Awana meeting for the year - so we'll take pictures there and post tomorrow. I will make sure to add some of Kaia as well:)

Giveaway

One of my fellow January 2009 Mommies is having a giveaway on her blog. She is a fabulous mom and a fabulous crafts woman. You should check it out. She has an Etzy account too with pictures of all her beautiful stuff!

Introducing baby girl Kaia Lee

Baby Kaia was born Saturday April 17th at 7:36pm after I had been on pitocin for 2.5 hours. My water broke the night before, but contractions never kicked in like they should. I had a few here and there and thought they would kick it up a notch, but not so. So we went to the hospital, and eventually they realized I would need the pitocin to get the labor started.
They did start soon after the pit was added, but none of them were too bad. It was not until 7ish that they were kicking in harder, but still not painful at all.
Around 7:25 or so I found them to be close together - still not painful and I had no problems breathing through them - but they were pretty much on top of each other. I called for the nurse just to make sure that was what they wanted as the contractions did not seem strong or long, just close together. She checked them out and said it looked ok. She then offered to get me a rice bag for my back pain. Right after she left my regular nurse came in (she had been giving report) and I mentioned during my contraction that there was a lot of pelvic pressure. She decided to check to see where I was at and found baby's head to be ready to pop out! She called for help, got one glove on, and baby came out! The Doc walked in after baby was out so I guess I made her day of work easier:)
By far the easiest labor since I only had contractions for 2.5 hours and the majority of them were
not painful or uncomfortable at all! Of course, being that Kaia was only 6lbs 11oz compared to the other kids who were 9lbs 7oz, 9lbs 4oz and 8lbs 13 oz, she was so much smaller too! Should make it easier for sure:)
So, I was dreading this labor - maybe because I had the last one so fresh in mind still - and it turned out wonderful! I felt great afterwards, up and moving and spending time with Kevin in the hospital. Oh, and no stitches needed either!
Becoming a mom is the greatest feeling ever, and whatever pain there is is so worth it!

So, here she is: Kaia Lee
6lbs 11oz
19 3/4 inches long

Here she is with her proud big brother and her two proud big sisters:

Baby coming REAL soon:)

All that waiting and not so patiently at that, has finally paid off!
Laying in bed last night my water broke - just a small trickle. However, my contractions did not start. Since I don't want to have pitocin we stayed home waiting for them to kick in. They are now slowly but surely starting, so I am hoping that baby will arrive before this evening.

And guess what, I feel totally unprepared!! The kids are thrilled to not have to wait anymore, and while I am too, I am more nervous about this delivery than any other! Weird!

So, off I go trying to get more prepared, and getting stuff ready.

Next update will be after we are a family of 6!!