Grandmas rule!

These girls love their awesome grandmas!!!!!

Tegan's Baby Blessing

On January 17th, we had Tegan's baby blessing.  My mom and Con came out for the occasion as well as Ruel's mom and dad and Debbie.  We had a lunch at the house afterwards with family and friends.  I decided to go with a much simpler dress for Tegan than I did for Hannah and Emily.  We got some good and some not-so-good photos (the more kids you get in a picture, the trickier it is!) of the special day.

Look at that little tongue!

Mom, Tegan and me

Tegan and Grandma Parent........ Big yawn!

Snuggling with my baby.  Long day........she was worn out.

What a special, memorable day.

Christmas 2009

Finally going back to do some catch-up blogging!  We're going to start with Christmas.......   :)
We had a lot of fun with some great activities leading up to Christmas.  We have some regular traditions and sometimes we throw some new things in for fun.  Usually the girls and I go to San Francisco with friends to see The Nutcracker, but we didn't get a chance to do that this time around.  We did go on a holiday train through Santa Cruz, the live nativity scene and re-enactment that we love, the creche exhibit and of course the church Christmas party.  Here are some pics and also some of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Hannah with Santa at church party

Emily chillin' with Santa (Andrew didn't want anything to do with him!)

The kiddos with Mr. & Mrs. Claus on the holiday train

Yes, Tegan was there keeping warm in the blanket.

The kids also went to Santa Cruz with Daddy 2 days before 

Christmasfor a Y-Guides activity.

They had fun playing in the tide pools.

Emily and her new-found starfish

Cutie-patootie chillin' at the beach!

Christmas Eve - sporting the new jammies!

Santa has been here!

The girls woke up at about 6:00 and were so excited.  They came and got me up.  I had only gotten a total of about 4 hours of sleep because Tegan and Andrew tag-teamed me during the night!  I let the girls check out their stockings and I got breakfast ready while we waited for everyone else to wake up.  We all got spoiled by Santa.  He brought each of the kids one big present:  Hannah got a nice art set, Emily got her very own telescope, and Andrew got a marble set he had been wanting.  Here's the whole story in pictures!

Me in shock upon opening my new laptop!

WOW!

Hmmm, not sure which one is bigger.....the girl or the telescope!

Grandma W. made pillowcases for all the grandkids!

Hannah so excited to give Emily the doll she had made for her.  

Look at those faces!

Hooray!  New Legos!

He LOVES those books!

The first thing a kid thinks of to do with a pillowcase!

Not to be left out, Tegan is showing off her new dress.

New blankie and bear.  :)

Ruel is always asking the girls to re-fill his water glass 

at dinnertime, so they got him his own carafe so they 

won't need to get him re-fills anymore!

Ruel also got a moveable basketball hoop that's now on the back patio.  That was his big present!  What a fabulous Christmas we had!  It was magical for the kids and so fun to see their eyes light up when they saw what Santa had brought them since it was what they had all really, truly wanted.  I loved seeing their excitement, especially about a gift they were giving to someone else.  Definitely a holiday season to remember!

Tegan's first few months

The last few months have been a blur!  It's been pretty crazy keeping up with four kids, especially with a new baby in the house, so I'm playing catch-up now with some blogging.  Here are just a few pictures of Tegan, some with her wonderful grandmas that came to help, and some with her big sisters and brother.  (Hmmm....funny how I don't have very many pictures of her but probably a few hundred of Hannah from the first few months.  Couldn't be that she's the fourth child, could it??  Poor thing.)

Tegan is sad that Grandma Parent is going home!

Grandma Waldron & Tegan

Proud big sister

Emily giving Tegan her first bottle.  No idea what crazy Andrew is doing.

Teeny toes

Catching some zzzzzz's

Bright eyes

Baby Tegan's arrival

Last Friday, the 23rd, little Tegan made her big entrance into the world.  I had been feeling pains in the afternoon and evening that started to really hurt, but nothing consistent or really long-lasting.  I went to the Primary Program practice that night to watch in case I wasn't able to be there on Sunday.  We didn't get home from that until around 8:45.  We took a few pictures with me and the kids and then put them to bed.

Hmmm.... smiling?  Must have been in between contractions

At about 9:15, I started timing the contractions because they were getting really bad.  To my surprise, they were between 2 and 5 minutes apart and they were long and very painful!  We called the hospital and then went on in and got there at about 10:15.  They put me in an "observation room" while the only available labor and delivery room was being cleaned.  I was already dilated to a 6 and said I wanted an epidural ASAP!  Unfortunately, since things were moving so fast, they weren't able to give me one.  To say I wanted to hurt someone would be an understatement!  None of my other labors have been nearly as painful as this one, even though they were much longer.  They finally got me into a room around 11:00 (with a nurse that I wanted to strangle) and by then I'm afraid that the poor first time moms up and down the hallway could probably hear me screaming!  Fortunately it didn't last too long and Tegan Elizabeth was born at 11:26 p.m.  She weighed 7 lb. 12 oz. and was 21 inches long.  What a little beauty.

Daddy's hand and Tegan's feet

At least I wasn't in labor all night this time like I was with all three others, so I was able to get some sleep.  The next morning, Ruel brought the kids and Grandma Parent to visit at the hospital.

The proud big brother, Andrew

Emily & Tegan

Hannah & Tegan

Grandma, Emily & Tegan

Proud papa

Sweet little thing

All dressed up to go home

Mommy & Tegan - going home

Tegan is just over a week old now and she is doing so well.  She's a great eater and of course is sleeping a lot - even does pretty well at night so far.  She's very tolerant of her brother and sisters who like to hold her a lot and give her kisses.  She is such a little doll and we just love having her here.  We've been lucky to have lots of help so that Mommy can rest a lot when Tegan is resting.  More to come soon!