What's more fun than having a new baby????

This week has been exciting. New baby. Halloween. Lots of lego time. Grandparents visiting. And now my kitchen is a wreck!

Tuesday night we noticed the floor in the kitchen seemed to be warped in some places. When we got the kids to bed and had a closer look- we realized the floor was soaked underneath the wood. Apparently the frig has been leaking for a few days. The entire kitchen floor was ruined as well as a few feet of the dining room. Not too bad we thought, but it seems to have been a lot worse then we orginially thought. At the moment we have a good friend here helping Nate to fix things as best as possible. They have had to remove a lot of sheet rock that soaked up water and the cabinets are now removed from the side of the kitchen where the frig was. It could be so much worse and so we are grateful it is something we can fix with a little help from our friends, but I just have to laugh that tomorrow is the blessing, we have family here at our house, and more family coming on Monday for Wyatt's birthday. Kitchen must stay pulled apart until Monday or Tuesday to let everything completely dry out. I guess we will be eating out a lot- my kids will think it is the best few days of their life- they LOVE resturants. The good news- Nate is pretty handy and was able to figure out what was wrong with the frig and save it. We only need to replace one small part and it is working enough to keep the food cold.

Audrey's Blessing

We will be blessing Audrey on Sunday at our ward (corner of Robindale and Buffalo) at 1:00pm. Anyone who wants to come would be more than welcome!

Bath time

Her first Mohawk.

Audrey Amelia

She is here!!!

Audrey Amelia Bingham was born at 2:33pm on Friday, October 23rd weighing in at 8 pounds 1 ounce and 19 1/2 inches long. She has lots of light brown hair and is healthy and happy!

My water broke at 6:30 in the morning but had no contractions. I went to the hospital at about 9am and it took awhile to confirm my water broke. They had me walk for an hour to see if anything would happen. At 12:20 they confirmed that yes indeed my water had broken and I was starting to have contractions. They started an IV and she was born at 2:30. My doctor didn't make it, but at this point who cares! She made it here and I made it through the delivery. It was only two hours so I can't complain but boy that was some pain! So glad to have made it through naturally and she is healthy and happy!

She did great through her first night. She woke up every two hours to eat and then back to sleep. She is a good natured little girl so far. Mara and Wyatt just met her and love her already. We are so happy to have her here!

I made it through the night without going into labor which is a huge relief since Nate was in Reno. His plane should be landing about now and although he is pretty much stuck in a conference for the next two days at least he is town! At about 9:30 last night I started having contractions again every 7 minutes and I started to freak out a bit but I made myself calm down and prayed they would stop. Thankfully they did and I was able to sleep better than I have in weeks. It was so nice not to get up every 1-2 hours to pee. I feel energized and ready to tackle the day! That may be because it is only 8:20 and in an hour or so I will be drained and ready for a nap, but I will take whatever energy I can get! Here is hoping we all have a great day!

Saw Dr B today and left so frustrated at first but then I chilled out. I haven't changed at all since last week- still at a 2 and 60% effaced. He says she looks like she is really liking it where she is and will probably be there until we make her come out on the 28th. I really just wanted to have progressed some but there is some comfort in knowing when she is coming and that my mom will be able to here to witness her birth. Nate has to go to Reno this week and has a conference here in town that he can't get out of so it will be good if she stays in- also- dr b is only on call on Wednesday this week so yet another good reason for her to stay inside until next week. On the name front- we have narrowed it down to a small list of names- most of which we hadn't discussed until yesterday. After hearing what people (my family mostly) think of some of our earlier ideas we have decided to keep this list of names to ourselves and then when we do name her- you all will just have to deal with whatever name we pick!!!

projects

The last few months have brought lots of changes around our place and here are some pictures to show what we have been up to.

Here are some projects that I have completed during Nate's hospital stays and my bed rest time. I think I finally have my food storage in order so that we can easily rotate it and see what we have and still need.

New chore and behavior charts are working well around here!

We took down our family rules that were all things we should not do and replaced it with all the things we should be trying to do- I think it is actually making a difference.

Rearranged all the bed rooms in prep for this little girl's arrival. Mara is thrilled to share her room with her little sister- we will see if she still feels that way in a few months. (Ignore all the stuffed animals everywhere on the floor- Mara was changing all their clothes and finding them new places to sleep.)

38 weeks and still growing- this has been my biggest project for sure!

Kids bathroom- painted, valanced, art worked, and rugged.

Once we pick a name for this little girl I want to put their names in vinyl lettering over the towel bar/under the art work. I still need to work on the mirror, but that will have to wait a little while.

I learned a lesson from this bathroom project- knitting a rug is easy but very time consuming! Next time buy a new shower curtain when you can't find a single rug to match the shower curtain you already have!

Progress

Dilated to a 2 and 60% effaced as of Monday! Progress- Dr. B says this little girl could be coming any day now or it could still be another two weeks. He is not as concerned about me going into labor on my own as we were before so I say- come on little girl! You are welcome to arrive anytime (as long as my dr is on call- that is!)

It finally happened...

I have been dreading this for the past 38 weeks! I knew that Mara being older and so curious about everything would eventually lead her to wondering about how the baby got in my tummy. Yesterday we were all sitting at the table eating lunch and she looks at me and asks, "How does the baby grow in your belly?" I was hoping she meant how did it get food and nutrients so we explained about the placenta and umbilical cord to her. She seemed satisfied for a minute and then, "No, I mean how did she get there in the first place?" OH BOY! How much do you explain and where do you start and stop this conversation? Nate to the rescue- as I tried to explain things to her and was tripping over my words, Nate jumped in and explained it in such simple terms that she was satisfied with the answer without asking how the "seed" and the "egg" actually come together. PHEW!

A few blessings

Just a few happy bits of news and blessings we have received this week. Baby girl is head down! I am 50% effaced and barely dilated. With an induction date of the 28th my mom's work schedule at her new job will allow her to be here without having to take time off. My nursing student sister will probably be able to come too! I am able to get up and do a little bit more since I am not dilating despite the contractions I have had so far. The weather has been B-U-TFUL!!! I was actually cold last night and i can't remember the last time that happened. Just as we got another large medical bill (my hospital stay) we received a letter from our mortgage company and we have such a large surplus in our escrow account that they are sending us a nice check and our taxes have decreased enough that are monthly mortgage payment will decrease by $57. The Lord is truly mindful of us! Oh-and despite the stupid new law in Nevada that medical assistants can't give shots anymore, I was still able to get my flu shot yesterday and it didn't even hurt.

Induction Date

The doctor just scheduled my induction for the the 28th at 9am. I know it is actually past my due date of the 25th but between his schedule and the hospital's this was the only date they could come up with. She may very well come before that on her own but if not at least I know the 28th is the end of this pregnancy!