Baby Winter! FINALLY!

I will be honest. When my sister Shannon hit 5 days "overdue" I was pretty sure her baby was going to stay where he/she was until they turned 18. Seriously. It seemed like he/she was WEEKS late due to the fact that I had my bags packed and ready for almost three weeks now. Shannon had contractions on and off for about two weeks so she was ready, too!

I told my sister that if she didn't go into labor by Thursday (July 11th) I was going to lace her smoothie with castor oil. And I wasn't kidding. I had been in Aurora since Monday afternoon and I was missing my husband and tired of waiting and waiting and waiting. But that's when it happened.
We had begun timing her contractions Wednesday afternoon since they seemed to be more regular. Into the evening her contractions were getting much stronger and lasting much longer.

 As Shannon went to bed on Wednesday night she told me to be ready because she though it was the night . And, just as she expected, we left at 2:15am for the birth center (she was GBS positive so she had to get to the birth center within an hour of labor).

Then came the not-so-fun part:

This was her common pose during early labor

Oops- I got a little tired and Ryan snapped my picture while I slept on the birth center couch

 And while Shannon suffered labor pains, I read up on cheese while drinking San Pelligrino ;-)

 

 After hours of hard labor, the midwives bumped up the intensity by wrapping a scarf around her belly (which she was NOT happy about) and then they did some INTENSE robozo to get the baby to shift into the right position (which made Shannon want to punch the midwife in the face, apparently).

Ryan was such a wonderfully supportive husband during her labor.
It was a joy to watch.

But then a few hours later, at 9:58am, their baby GIRL was born. Payton Ely Winter. 7lbs 13oz 21 inches long and 100% adorable.

(and we got to mark one extra thing off of our "Summer Fun List"-- hold a new baby!)

Which, apparently, we need to work on.
She just picked her right up while I was taking pictures! EEK!

Proud big brother

Woah! She moves!

Happy happy happy.

And just so everyone is aware, your tummy does not go right back into your skinny jeans after birthing a baby. It takes a few weeks for everything to move back into place and shrink back into its original size (if it ever does). Shannon is happily back into her pre-pregnancy jeans two weeks later. :-D

We love you Payton!

Buffalo County Fair

Who can resist a County Fair? Not this chick. I also cannot resist funnel cake. Need to work on that one...

we also enjoyed Brinley's FIRST ride on a horse!!

Fun things to do while waiting for a baby....

As you read in our last post Brinley, Titus, and I were all in Aurora, Colorado waiting for my sister Shannon and bro-in-law Ryan's newest baby to come on out to join us. While we waited, we thought we would cross a few things off of our "Summer Fun List" (a list we made of all the fun things we wanted to do this summer). First, as you read here, we crossed off "Go to the Zoo" as we visited the Denver Zoo.
Next up, we crossed off "Make Homemade Ice Cream" (while naked):

Don't mind the nakedness... my parents DO NOT have A/C
so the temp in the house was around 84.
( I can't complain-- Shannon was SIX DAYS "overdue" in this heat!)

And when you cross off homemade ice cream, you also have to cross off "Try a Rootbeer Float", too right?

We also had a pool party:

He is seriously adorable.

Our boys.

                   Uh Oh                                                  SPLASH!                                           Sorry Buddy!        

They REALLY love their Grandpa Eric!

And I snapped a few "I can't believe how big your belly is" photos:
(these are the last photos of her pregnant!)

There was some naked "Ring Around the Rosie" initiated by my sweet little girl:

And a chubby little man squeezed himself into Grandpa's hammock swing

Squishy rolls!

Next up-- baby comes???

Waiting for a new baby!

Meet my sister, Shannon:

Ok... meet me sister's GIGANTIC belly, I guess.

Yeah. She was about two days "overdue" at this point.

From the beginning of her pregnancy I have begged her to allow me to be there for the birth of her baby. Originally I was planning on leaving Kearney when I got a phone call from her that she was in labor. So for about 2 weeks I had my bags packed and carried my phone EVERYWHERE (I even slept with it) waiting for that call. But once she hit three days "overdue" I knew labor was imminent and so I packed up the kiddos and headed to Aurora. We arrived on Monday July 8th and stayed at my parent's house (where my sister and brother-in-law live while they wait to close on their house).

Titus, Grandpa, Grandma, and cousin Evan

When we woke up on Tuesday we decided to hit up the Denver Zoo. I mean, two hours of walking around the zoo in 96 degree heat should serve as an eviction notice to the baby, right?

Brinley had to check the map to see where to go first

Spotted Hyena

The zoo is one of those places where you have to try to explain
animal behavior to children.
Like why the hyena was puking and rolling in his puke.... niiiiice

Ok- I apologize for the "oops! wrong setting!" photos coming up. I didn't check my settings or my photos and I'm too lazy to fix it.

This is how you roll with three kids
(Brinley is on a skateboard-type thing that straps to your stroller)

Watching the monkeys
( please notice that my little sister doesn't look pregnant from behind. ) 
( let alone 5 days "overdue" )

She loves her Grandma Cindy!

This photo is for Gram Shirley-- she loves giraffes!

Seriously STRAIGHT out.

Evan just sat back, got comfortable, and went along for the ride!

So we got to check off "Go to the Zoo" from our "Summer Fun List"! Yay!


Next up-- Payton Ely Winter! Horray!!

Happy Birthday America!

This has been a week of sitting and waiting (not so) patiently for the phone call to head to Aurora, CO for the 0th birthday of my niece/nephew. I was SURE the baby would come two weeks ago. and last week. and two days ago. and yesterday. But, alas, this baby is waiting. He/she is due to enter the outside world today (his/her brother waited until his due date, too!). So will see.

In the mean time we celebrated the 237th birthday of our nation.

On the 3rd of July Brinley and I attended the annual Halbgewachs (yeah, that's their last name) Independence Party. It was SO MUCH FUN. They have a property near the river which also happens to be the perfect spot to watch the fireworks from. Brinley played in the giant sandbox, on the giant tree swing, in the giant tree house, on the trampoline (yes, apparently everything is bigger in the country) with all of her little friends while Mommy chatted away with the adults and munched on lots of sweet yumminess. Then we sang songs, prayed, and walked down the country road to the river. It was a fantastic night with fantastic friends. It doesn't get much better than that

Yesterday was Independence Day! Daddy stayed home from work and we played all morning, Mommy and Daddy worked on the boat all afternoon and then the kids swam in their pool in the evening. Somehow, Titus ended up naked and Brinley ended up with her clothing on in the pool....

We also set up a tent in the living room so Brinley could have a "Camp-In".

...and ran across a shy little lion

Then came the fun part-- lighting things on fire!!

Ti's first sparkler experience

"I do it myself, Daddy!"
"Not yet, buddy. Not yet."

She said jammies and slippers are the best things to wear
when lighting sparklers

Roger got tired of lighting each "snake".... so he just piled them up and lit them all together.

Then Ti went to sleep for the night and we climbed up onto the roof (with chips and drinks) and enjoyed our neighborhood fireworks display. It was quite impressive!

Then came the 5th of July (today) and dirt balls. Yes, Brinley decided she needed to make lots of dirt balls to throw into the grass for the birds (??)

The face I got when I told her that birds don't eat dirt, just worms.

Goofy girl.

...while Titus enjoyed their new sandbox (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!)

I couldn't love this kid any more than I already do. Seriously.