Baby Claire is Here!

Say hello to Claire Jean Kendall. She was born on April 11th a little after 8 in the morning and was 7 pounds and 20 1/4 inches long.
Jed had a retreat for his MSTP program overnight on the 10th so we had joked for weeks that I would go into labor that night while he was an hour away and of course I did. I ended up having to call Jed at 12:30 to head on home so that we could go to the hospital just as he was going to sleep. Once Jed got home we got James up to go to a friend's house to stay while we were at the hospital.

Because of the long wait for Jed to get home and having to get James ready to go I was already a 6 by the time we got to the hospital and I was definitely ready for an epidural though it still took 2 hours for me to get it what with waiting for paperwork and blood work, etc. But once that epidural was in it was smooth sailing.

Around 8 I called the nurse in because I was feeling some pressure and after a quick check she confirmed that I was complete. The nurse went to have me do a practice push but then told me to stop mid-push because baby was right there and she needed to get the doctor. Once the doctor was there and everything was set up I started pushing and Claire was born just a few minutes later!

This labor and recovery has been a completely different experience than I had with James, though I did go into labor with both of them at night :) With James I pushed for 2 and a half hours before he was born with the assistance of forceps. I needed 33 stitches and then fainted shortly after labor because of blood loss. Even after having to get a blood transfusion I still felt weak for weeks after having James. With Claire pushing was super fast, I only needed one stitch and I've been feeling so much better. Thank goodness too because even with my Mom here James still wants attention from me and of course Claire needs lots of love!

James is doing great with handling the new baby in the house. Occasionally he tells me to put the baby down but for the most part he likes to help and is super cute with her.

We love our little Claire and can't wait to spend even more time snuggling with her!

Danielle Came to Visit

My wonderful sister Danielle came out to Cincinnati to visit for the weekend a little while ago. (This happened back before Easter but I haven't posted about it because I hadn't put the pictures from my phone onto my computer [and who wants a post without pictures]).

While Danielle was here we went out to lunch where we had a view of the city, went to the zoo, saw Cinderella, and spent a bunch of time playing at our house. James had so so much fun with Danielle here - he kept squealing "Aunt Danielle" every time he saw her. It was super nice to have a break at the end of the pregnancy too. Hopefully she'll get the chance to visit again soon.

At the zoo.

Riding the train.

And here are James and Danielle riding the train.

Happy Easter!

Holidays are so much more fun with kids! And they are especially more fun now that James is starting to understand them more and get more into them.

We didn't make any big plans for Easter because I'm so very pregnant but we still had fun. On Saturday we found an egg hunt to take James to. It was pretty hilarious: because it had been raining earlier in the week the ground was muddy so they had all of the eggs on the basketball blacktop so the hunt lasted all of five minutes but it was still super cute.

On Sunday we had homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast and James got his Easter basket, then we dyed eggs outside before James had lunch and took a "nap" (he's been on a bit of a napping strike) while we watched conference. That afternoon we had our own little egg hunt in the backyard and then played outside. It was a pretty great low-key Easter weekend.

39 Weeks Pregnant

 How far along?  39 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 38 Pounds

Maternity clothes?  Yep! In fact some of my maternity shirts are getting too short at this point.

Stretch marks? Still nope – hopefully I’m almost in the clear!

Sleep: Super patchy. Some nights I sleep like a dead person other than getting up to pee; other nights I wake up in the middle of the night and then can’t fall back asleep for literally hours.

Best moment this month: James is starting to get more excited now that we’ve gotten all of the baby stuff out.

Movement: She’s still kicking around in there. Though the movement is smaller most of the time now because she’s so cramped in there.

Food cravings: I STILL want to eat all the sweets all the time.

Gender: Girl

Labor Signs: We actually had a false alarm this week. I never dealt with false labor with James so when I was having contractions off and on all night and then 3-5 minutes apart for a couple of hours that morning we figured it was time to head in to the hospital even though they were more uncomfortable than crazy painful. When we got there though I wasn’t progressing so back home we went and sure enough that night (after about 24 hours of contractions) the contractions just abruptly stopped and haven’t come back.

Belly Button in or out? Out.

Wedding rings on or off?  On.

What I miss: Being able to move without extreme effort.

What I am looking forward to: Baby Girl’s arrival!

Milestones: I delivered James at 39 weeks 1 day so we’re hoping there isn’t too much more time before Baby Girl makes her appearance!

March Wrap-Up

March started off frigid, just like February, but at least by the end of the month it had warmed up so that we could go outdoors without first spending 20 minutes bundling up. And that's a good thing because as I've gotten more gigantic bundling James and myself up has become progressively harder. And here's the reason you're really here: the pictures:

Ahhh ... finally some warmth.

One day I let James have a chocolate on the way home from the store for being good (I'm clearly not above bribery) - this was obviously a mistake.

Some days weren't so good though - like the day that Jed drove away with my car keys so we couldn't go to the indoor playground. James was not pleased.

Happy Birthday Pippin!

Pippin's 1st birthday was on March 18th. I can hardly believe that this adorable little puppy is already a year old. He is still a little bit of a naughty puppy; the main issue being a bit of a shoe chewing problem (seriously we have to keep all of our shoes in the closet at ALL times and close the closet door because if you leave the door open and he is home by himself he'll go get the shoes out of the closet.) But other than that he is such a joy. He is excitable and fun and loves to run around and play. This winter has been a little rough because it's been so cold walking him has really been a chore but now it is finally warm so his need for exercise is much more sustainable now :)

For his birthday Pippin got a whole piece of chicken for himself with a candle of course. And James picked him out some new toys and treats.

Waiting through Happy Birthday so he could get to his chicken.

He doesn't look very excited here, but Pippin loves the giant, slightly creepy, mouse that James picked out for him.

February Wrap-Up

February was freezing in Cincinnati this year - like really unusually cold ... record-breaking even a lot of days. So we spent a lot of time inside or playing in the snow in February. Or rather playing in the snow for a few minutes before it got too cold and then heading back inside for some hot chocolate. Here's the picture wrap-up:

We built a snowman one day!

Pippin decided to photo-bomb this picture.

Pippin had a vet appointment and felt pretty good after he realized his only immunization this time was an oral one.

Cold weather outside means lots of coloring inside.

And of course making muffins.

James loved to shovel snow anytime we went outside.

We painted our cabinets awhile ago and finally got around to putting the doors back on - James was of course a big help ;)

A friend from story-time told us about an indoor playground that a local church holds every Tuesday morning and it quickly became a weekly highlight for James.

And of course we made lots of visits to the Children's Museum.

Looking out at the snow.

James (and Pippin) helped me clean out the guestroom so we could turn it into his new "big boy" room.

And we obviously did lots of reading.