Ireland was pretty chunky and blotchy at the hospital.

But her cheeks are "thinning" out and her eyes are opening up. What a beautiful girl !!!!

Mommy comes home today

Ember and Ireland are both doing great. They'll be coming home this morning and settling in with help from Ember's mom Mary. Allison will be showing up on Saturday for a week or so to help as well. Abe will be primed to dance for Jonah, but Jonah will probably run away in fear (although he has been asking for Abe lately, which is good).

We miss so many of you that are far away and hope to see many of you by the time the holidays come around.

--Jake

Jonah loves "Baby Sister"

Baby Ireland is here!

I know this is long overdue, so I apologize for those of you who've been anticipating this post with the pictures. Ireland was born yesterday morning around 8:00 AM MST. We were both surprised with how much black hair she has. It'll probably change over time, but it was a shock to both of us. She weighed 8 lbs 9 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

The surgery went really well and Ember is recovering quickly. Baby and mom are both doing great. Jonah absolutely loves his little sister (see above) and Tobin really likes fruit snacks. Thank you so much to all of you for showing your love and prayers.

--Jake

Just a little update

Tobin had his 3rd set of tubes placed in his ears on Monday morning. He also had his adnoids taken out and a sedated hearing test done. The doc said that his adnoids were huge, so he defiantely needed them out. From what we could tell from the hearing test, he is hearing ok-but the doc was unable to get a good enough test result to know for sure becuase there was too much fluid in tobins ears (from the ear infection he has had for the past month) for the test to work correctly. So we will have to do a few more tests at his followup appointment in a month. As for now, he is doing great. He recoverd very quick from the surgery. Once we got home from the hospital, he was eating handfuls of raisins and fruit snacks, downing cup after cup of juice, and soon after was jumping up and down on the furniture. He didnt seem to be in much pain and it was nice to see our little guy so happy. We're hoping this 3rd set of tubes (he has had 3 sets of tubes in 7 1/2 months) works. We're thinking that with those nasty adnoids gone, that his ear infections will come a lot less often--maybe not at all! I'm sure we will let you know of the day when tobin says his first real english word instead of the adorable toby blabber that he always spats out!
My c-section is scheduled for Monday morning at 7:30 am! I'm super eager to get Ireland out. The doctor guesses that she wont be as big as my boys were--she will probably be just the right size--7 1/2 -8 lbs. She has dropped a lot these past few weeks and i no longer fit in my pants. Even my stretchy pants arent really stretching enough. i'm just going to have to wear dresses for the next few days. We cant wait to see her! Of course, we will post picutres and information as soon as we can after she arrives.

It's Fall !!!

I love so much about the Fall (wearing sweaters, the colors of the leaves, that burning smell of the heater kicking on for the first time in months...), but i think my favorite thing is caramel apples. I love caramel apples and could eat them every day. In fact, i always try to have all my caramel apple making supplies on hand all through October so that i can make them at the instant i have a craving. And of course, they more sweet gooey'ness on them, the better. Mmmmmm.........

Look at the plate--dont you just want to eat the wax paper thats drenched in all that sweetness!

Jonah loves to help finish off the supplies

Irelands room

Its officially finished. Are you all surprised that its orange and brown (haha)? I dont sway far from my comfort colors. Yes, i managed to not use pink in her room; not necessarily becuase i was trying to avoid pink--i just found what i liked without pink. My mom sewed everything (thanks mom!) and i think the finished product turned out pretty adorable.
I assume that when Ireland is 4 years old, she will tell me that pink is her favorite color and she will want a room covered in pink (like i did when i was that age), and i am sure i will give in. Until then, i figured i'd make the room my way. The room decor was picked before we chose her name, but it all kind of matches, huh? Meant to be i guess.....

My adorable boys

I absolutely ADORE my children--and their curly hair.

Counting down the days.....

I look down and this is all i see!


She's everywhere. 3 weeks left!

Art

So i was sick of looking at blank basement walls, and decided to do some artwork to color things up a bit (with help from my s.i.l.). Jonah decided to help when i wasnt looking. Thank heavens craft paint can be easily washed off. I was actually proud of Jonah for doing a little painting and getting into something he wasnt supposed to get into. He's a good kid--sometimes too good. Besides, maybe our ugly kitchen chairs do need to be painted!