Baby girl.

My baby girl is three today! Here's a little reminiscing of how things all began with her!

July 13, 2007

"We just found out that I'm pregnant again! It was quite a shock. We were being really responsible and not expecting it at all. But we're really excited and I know that this baby needs to come now. I really hope its a girl. But I guess we'll see. I'm due Feb 17, so Ty and the baby will be like a year apart. Crazy! I'm nervous and scared but I know I can do it because I have lots of help."

Feb 20, 2008

"Well, I'm still pregnant...but I've been getting contractions that I can feel all morning and I lost my mucous plug so at least I know its coming soon. The contractions aren't too hard, I can still walk and talk through them, so Ryan went to work. No point in him waiting around here when it could be awhile before I'm in hard labor. He's still planning on taking the boys out to Cardston today. He has a job out there so the plan is for him to take the boys out around 11:00am and then do the job. So if nothing changes with these contractions then that is still a go. I hope it all works out. I need these boys gone. I'm just too tired and cranky to deal with it."

March 2, 2008

"This has been the longest week of my life! First of all McKenna was born @ 4:41am on Feb. 22. It seemed like a long labor, but the easiest. I was getting contractions for 2 days but they would be regular for awhile then completely stop for awhile, and they were always 5 min apart or more and not too strong. It was a little frustrating. Connie had the boys so I was able to relax. Then @ 11:00pm on the 21st they started getting closer so we headed to the hospital. I was already dilated to 7 cm and the labor hadn't even been that bad. I was like Yeah! This is going to go quick. But like 5 hours later I had her. I got the epidural though so I didn't even feel any of the hard stuff. I pushed her out in about 10min. She weighed 7 pds 7 oncs and about 19 3/4 inches long. We only stayed in the hospital for like 13 hours. I wanted to get the heck out of there, and McKenna and I were both doing well enough. She is so beautiful! We all just adore her! She's a week old now and is doing very well and growing tons. This has been my fastest recovery. I'm doing very good. I tried nursing the first day but when it started to get hard I decided to not even try anymore. I've actually really been enjoying McKenna at the newborn stage. Ryan's been home all week so Its been nice. Regular life will start again tomorrow."


I'm so glad you came when you did McKenna Ray! You are an important piece of our family and we love you tons! Happy Birthday!

Reading books.

Ryan and I both love to read, so we are thrilled that all of our kids love to read too. Before Nate was even born his auntie Ginger bought him a basket full of books. He loved books from a very young age. When he was a year old if he was really quiet for a long time, I knew that he was looking at his books. He'd sit by his basket and pull them out one at a time and look through them. He would spend a half hour doing this. Ryan and I were quite surprised that at 4 years old, he started to memorize the sight of words and pretty soon was reading children's books on his own just from word recognition. When he received his first letter from Kindergarten just before he started he could read pretty much the whole letter by himself. Ryan and I were so impressed. I wish we could take credit for this, but he pretty much did it on his own. Now he is already reading young children's novels! It is still so shocking to me that he taught himself to read. Although I don't expect for this to occur with Ty and McKenna, I love how Nate is such a good example to them, and they too love to read. I will find them all sitting like this a lot:



Now if you look really closely, you will see a little toy in each of their hand. Nate started doing this a long time ago. Whenever he read he would have a little toy in his hand that he would follow the words with. Now Ty and McKenna do the same thing.





I think it is so cute and funny! I'm so glad that they love to read! I hope it lasts forever.

My Man.

Happy Birthday to my handsome, and amazing husband! For the boys birthday's I posted bits from my journal on their births, and well, since I wasn't there when my dear husband was born I went directly to the source! So here are some words from my fantastic Mother in-law...see girls, its very important to keep a record of these things!

"On February 15, 1982, our second beautiful boy was born. Sunday the 14th, I was very tired of being pregnant so I took castor oil but Ryan wasn't born till Monday afternoon at 4:05. Dr. Sefcik broke my water at 11 am, then after 3 hours of nothing, suddenly the pains started at 2 pm and it only took 2 hours. Dr. Sefcik was at a clinic in Stand Off and didn't make it back in time. It was an easy delivery so the nurses didn't have much problem. Cheryl Beazer was the nurse that delivered him. Ryan's birth was a beautiful experience. I had no painkillers so I was very much awake. (The smell of Roy's hamburger and fries made me very sick though!) As soon as he was born, they laid him on my stomach and there he lay, just crying his heart out. I kept patting him and telling him not to cry! The doctor stayed right in the room with us for about an hour as we marvelled over this brand new person. He was a nice 7 lb 7 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. Dr. Sefcik had me get up off the delivery table and walk back to my room. I was very shaky. My mom had phoned the hospital 3 or 4 times and finally got the news. I was very tired afterward which took me several weeks to get over.

We couldn't decide on a name for this new little one for quite awhile. Nothing seemed right. (especially when everyone told me it was going to be a girl!) Finally, the day I was to leave the hospital we stood around for a half hour throwing names around. I had been reading a book in which there was a man named Timothy Ryan and I liked the name Ryan so I said "Ryan-----Matthew, for Roy's grandfather. It just seemed to be right.

Ryan slept through the night at 6 weeks and was a very good baby. David called him Rynan.

Happy 29th Birthday Ry, we love you!!

Mom"

I am so grateful to this wonderful, amazing woman who raised my equally amazing husband! Everyday I marvel at how perfectly suited we are for each other and I have no doubts that are meeting was inspired! The older you get Ry, the more I love you!

Happy Birthday!

15 Weeks.

Last week I said goodbye to my first trimester and hello to the second! This was a highly anticipated transition, and although I didn't magically feel better as soon as I hit 14 weeks like I had hoped, I am definitely feeling better and things are looking up! I am still pretty tired, but am no longer feeling sick all day long. Usually in the evenings I get hit with a bit of nausea and I am still careful what I eat in the evenings, but have been puke free for a couple of weeks. I've been getting a lot of headache's, but other then that I'm feeling pretty good. I was able to hear the little bean's heartbeat a few weeks ago. It really doesn't get old and it makes you realize that you truly are growing a little life inside of you. What a special feeling! The kids ask lots of question's and are really excited to have a new brother or sister. Every time I eat something Ty and McKenna will say "is that for your baby?". They are so cute and I love their interest and their questions. I thought about adding a picture but you really can't see a baby bump yet. There is a little one, but not one that would be noticed by most. I'm looking forward to a little bump to start to grow, for my upcoming ultrasound (no, sadly we aren't finding out the sex this time), and to feel some movements! I love the second trimester!

My friend Devon has an amazing Motherhood Project that she's working on this year. Once a month she's featuring Mother's at different phases. The Mom will answer some questions about Motherhood and of course there will be some stunning photo's of the Mom and her children doing things they love to do together. It is really inspiring and special so I urge you to check out her blog once a month. We will be featured at some point and I'm really looking forward to it. Go to devondurocher.com and click on her blog to check out her feature of the beautiful Jessica and her darling lady London. The pictures are to die for!

Down the toilet.

Nate's favorite Grandma Kim story:

When my Mom was young she was using the washroom and as she bent over to flush the toilet her glasses fell off into the toilet and were flushed down the toilet! She came out of the bathroom crying and upset cause they were gone.

Nate tells me atleast once a day that he'll never flush his glasses down the toilet like Grandma Kim and he and Ty usually have a good laugh over it!

Thanks Auntie Terry for telling us that story! It warms my heart and brings a smile to my face when the kids talk about their Grandma Kim!

Family Pic.

We got our newest family pic on canvas. I'm really bad at sizing (I'd have to check with Devon for the exact size) but Ryan guesses 24x36. Its big and beautiful! I love it! Of course the above picture doesn't do it justice. Now I wish I had a big, beautiful front room to put it in. Oh well, I guess our little, hand me down everything living room will have to do for now.


I forgot to mention we had an Olsen family bday party for all the January birthdays. Everyone came over to our house for yummy stew, delicious homemade buns (good job Shan!), and ice cream cake. Then we played Kinect and had a good visit. Here are the two birthday boys! Ty and Steve.





My two cuties that I get to spend my days with!





Remember my last post of Nate with his new glasses. Well Ty asks and cries for his own glasses everyday. If he only knew.


Just an update: I'm almost 13 weeks and have been feeling much better. Still feel pukey sometimes and am extremely exhausted, but its not nearly as bad. And I haven't actually puked in almost a week! (knock on wood). I feel like a new person! It feels great!

New Look.

This boy can rock any look!

I think he looks so smart and handsome!