Baby Brother is Here!

Ty David Judi was born Thursday, July 9th at 8:46 pm. He was 7 lbs, 7 oz, and 19 inches long.
I went in for my doctor appointment on Thursday afternoon at 3:10 hoping that maybe my doctor would induce me the next day before she went on vacation for two weeks. I was a little skeptical whether she'd do it or not since I was almost 38 weeks.

Anyway...I ended up being dilated to a 3 or a 4 so my doctor had me check in to labor & delivery. Everything went really fast, but turned out well. Dave took care of the kids and made it to the hospital before anything happened. I got an epidural and it worked! My doctor made it to the hospital before Ty was born.

Ty is a perfect, healthy baby and I am feeling pretty good too. We came home on Saturday. I enjoyed my two day vacation in the hospital. :)

Here are some pics to enjoy:

Me and Ty a few hours after he was born (it was late -- I know I look lovely)

The next morning when the kids came to see the baby

Saturday morning with Grandma -- waiting for the doctor to show up to discharge us so we could go home

Marianne drove down by herself on Friday and is helping Dave with the kids. Sweet lady!

Ty -- 4 days old

Thanks everyone for the well wishes! We are doing great and enjoying little brother!

More Bike Riding Fun...

The other day Dave took the training wheels off of Jack's bike and this is what happened...

Swimming

We've been going to the pool pretty much every day. It's been amazing to see the kids' improvement.

Jack went from not wanting to get in the water to swimming around in the deep end and "bumping " off the side (sliding into the water with his tube on).

Kate went from barely putting her head under the water to this...

I didn't want to get in the deep end (I did last week and it was really uncomfortable since the water was so deep), so I sat on the edge and held onto the noodle so Kate could grab onto it if she couldn't make it to the edge. She's quite the little swimmer now!

Oops, sorry Jack!

I was just viewing old posts with Jack and realized that I never posted pictures of his actual birthday this year. I got overwhelmed with our vacation pictures from right after his birthday and never posted them. You can click here to see them.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July! We had a great day yesterday. The kids rode their bikes in a little children's parade, I got to work on my bike decorating skills, the kids went to a little carnival, then we came home and it rained and made everything nice and cool. Here are some pictures.

Jack on his big boy bike -- his helmet fits better if he wears a hat too, otherwise he can't see. (It kind of looks like I'm holding a blue balloon in front of my stomach, but unfortunately it really is just my stomach.)

Kate did great riding her bike amidst all the people. I think she was a little annoyed that Dave and I walked in the parade too. She wanted us to watch.

The kids participated in a three-legged race. They did a great job! Jack only fell down a few times and they actually finished.

After the parade we came home and put together the bunk beds. I think they look great and I love that the kids' room isn't so crammed with stuff now.

And the kids wanted a picture of them in their new beds.

Halfway There...

Here are a few pictures of the bunk bed painting project. It's halfway done now...

And of course, Jack wanted his picture taken too. His bed is the next project.

No More Training Wheels

A week ago we bought this smaller bike for Kate at a yard sale. We took the training wheels off and tried to help her ride it, but her balance wasn't very good. So, Dave took the pedals off and Kate has spent this last week zooming around on the bike. Tonight we put the pedals back on and this is what happened...

Dave and Kate started out like this...and after ten minutes or so this happened...

And, of course you can't post a picture of one kid and not the other. So, here's Jack.He spent the evening zooming around on the bigger tricycle.

Anyway... you can buy a Skuut bike for $100 to teach your kid balance or you can just take off the pedals for free.

We're Still Here...

All right, I guess it's time that I post something. We've been keeping busy, but haven't taken many pictures in the last few weeks. I've had good intentions of taking pictures, but it hasn't happened. So, here's what we've been up to:

We bought a membership to one of the pools here (they are all private and expensive and not-so-nice-because-they-are-old), so I'm trying to get as much use out of it as we can before the baby comes. Kate started swimming lessons this week and has improved so much! Jack is no longer totally freaked out by the water. So, it's been a good thing. Hopefully the weather warms up a little (we skipped swimming lessons this morning because it was only 48 degrees out and raining).

I found a smaller bike for Kate at a yard sale on Saturday. We bought her a bike for Christmas a year and a half ago, but it's too big for her to ride without training wheels. Dave took the pedals and training wheels off of the smaller bike, so she can get used to balancing. Hopefully someday she'll ride it without training wheels (with pedals). Jack tried really hard to ride the bike, but it's a little too big for him and he had a few wrecks before finally believing us that it's too big for him.

Our neighbors gave us their bunk beds last week. So, Dave's been busy sanding them down so we can paint them and then put them back together. The kids were really excited about having bunk beds. They slept in them for a few nights before we started working on them.
We've been spending a lot more time outside these days. We had breakfast outside on Saturday after trying out the new bike. (if you look closely in the reflection you can see my lovely ever-growing figure).I'm just waiting for July to come, so this baby can come out. Kate helped me wash the baby clothes and other baby stuff, so it can be ready. It will probably just sit in my room for another month or so, but oh well. I like to be prepared.

Anyway...That's what we've been up to. Lots of words and few pictures, but oh well.

Father & Son's

Last weekend Dave took Jack to his first Father & Son's campout. Here are some highlights of the night.

Jack in their "tent" eating his treat. They slept in the van since we don't own a tent.

Playing football with his "brothers"

Kate and I had a girls night. We got some pizza and had a picnic. We compromised on a movie -- we watched Alvin and the Chipmunks since it had real people in it and animated animals. Then Kate got to sleep with me and she slept in really late the next morning. Good times had by all!

Last Day of Preschool & Soccer

Today was the last day of preschool and spring soccer for Kate. I'm sad that preschool is over, but no so sad that soccer is over.

Kate made a card for her teacher. I thought she did a pretty good job at writing the note inside, so I snapped a picture of it. She drew a picture of herself and Mrs. Johnson holding rakes in one hand brooms in the other while riding skateboards. Pretty creative!We got to go to Kate's school and hear the kids sing and have ice cream with them.Kate and her teacher, Mrs. Johnson

And now for soccer pictures...8 out of the 11 kids on the team (9 boys, 2 girls) -- Dave was the coach

Now what are we going to do with all our free time? No more preschool, soccer, dance, piano lessons, American Idol & Lost & the Office? I guess we'll just have to go swimming every day (hopefully it will warm up a bit) and wait for the baby to come.