She's Here!!

Kylie Camille Christensen
Born 8-14-12
weight 8lbs
height 19 inches
 We are so excited she is here!

Madi loves having another sister and is becoming the "little mother" asking to change her, feed her, whatever she needs madi wants to do it.  So far, we let her hold her and she feles pretty satisfied with that...for now!

Hali is SUPER helpful as you can see.  She wonders how we ever had any children without her help and constant attention!!  I need to get a picture with tyce and kylie but he is surprisingly infatuated with her!  He thinks she is so cute and wants to hole her as much as the girls do, though not for as long!  We are doing well, and loving the new member to our family!

A new Ending

It is so interesting to be pregnant.  This is my 4th well, actually 5th if you count a miscarriage, time being pregnant and although most of the beginning and middle parts of this pregnancy have been predictable according to my previous ones, this last little while has been foreign to me.  I am in uncharted territory.  I am about 38.5 weeks pregnant and find myself unsure of how my body will react to impending labor.  First off, I have never made it this far before (not that I am complaining..since when do pregnant, exhausted, hot, huge swollen women complain??), I have delivered at 38 weeks, 36 weeks, and 37.5 weeks.  So this is what it's like to wait for a baby come, fun.  I am usually surprised and caught unprepared.  Secondly, I am nauseous all over again, every.day.  I am a little bitter about the last one, i feel I paid my dues the first 5 months of this pregnancy.  Third, I am actually prepared.  I have all the projects done I was hoping to finish, burp rags, blankets, baby clothes washed and put away.  I have also been nesting something awful and would like to brag publicly if you don't mind!
Went through ALL of the kids clothes bins and sorted, reorganized, threw out.
went through all the kids toys and "                                                                  "
Picked up a few new baby projects like a nursing cover I am halfway finished
Reorganized my closet
Reorganized hali's closet
Reorganized madi and tyce's closet
Reorganized craft space
Reorganized laundry room
made freezer meals (which I am slowly been using because I feel no desire to cook in the heat)
Finished getting Madi ready for kindergarten (clothes, shoes, backpack)
Made some hair bows
 Yeah, I have been nesting a little.  So here I wait, while contractions have been my friend every evening for 2 1/2 weeks now ( tricky little suckers), and nausea and all around crummy feelings.  I really don't mind going to my due date or past, I just wish my body would stop practicing labor and just wait for it you know?  Did all your pregnancies go the same?  Has anyone experienced a varying off the straight and narrow???

Soccer

There are moments or milestones in life that take me by surprise and  leave me a  little breathless at how quickly life moves.  This is one of those.  Madi was old enough to play on a soccer team and as I watched her play with the other two kids in tow, I thought how this was the very first game that I sat and watched one of my children play, and how many more games were yet to come.  It made me excited and also  little sad as my little family enters the world of school and sports and other commitments.  I have been flying below the radar, and now will be in full view.  It was so fun for Mark and I to watch her play!  we weren't really sure if she would really interact, or be aggressive at all and were really surprised at how well she did!  She did great!  We have had our suspicions that she might be an athlete with how tall she is, and strong.  In any case, she really enjoyed it, and we enjoyed watching her.

 The very best part about soccer were the treats at the end of the game, that is as predictable and unchanging as the as the rising and setting of the sun,  it's why you play in Madi's opinion.

Easter pictures

Because Easter was so cold and windy, I had to take our easter pictures a few weeks later.  On the way to church we passed a blossoming orchard and stopped to take a few pictures in their easter clothes.  This was the best one which isn't saying much, I know, but I am slowly learning how to take better pictures.  The trick for me is to just keep taking them even if they don't turn our so hot.  I am horrible at this and am determined to improve!!

Easter

 We went to an easter egg hunt this year that the kids loved.  They hunted for eggs,

 dyed a few

 took a picture with the easter bunny ( this is as close as Tyce would get, I don't really blame him.)

 Easter morning was cold and windy, but we manages a little easter egg hunt of our own.

 A picture with the cousins and my parents at the easter egg hunt the day before easter.

Winter

 There is a song the kids sing in primary about summertime and goes something like "Oh what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?"  In the summer, you really don'e have to think about what to do, there are so many things to do outside that it's easy to stay busy and entertained.  The real question, or song should go something like, " Oh what do you do in the winter time, when all the world is, gray, and windy, and cold, and rainy and dead?"  Well, this is what we did, over and over and over again until is was at least mildly acceptable to play outside.  

 Guns, or cowboys.

 Dress up!

 Read books.  At this point I was in the midst my first trimester in this pregnancy and had somewhat lost the desire to live.  I was so sick.

 But somehow we made it through alive.  Madi was a big help with Hali, and a lot of other things I had her doing to help me while I lay in the fetal position on the couch.  In fact, I may have asked too much of her because one day she told me " I am tired of being a mom, I want a break!"

Light Reading

 We are not really potty training Hali yet, but she loves to sit on the potty.  She has obviously been taking notes because she wants a magazine while she does her business.  This picture is for my brother Jeff, who studies business at Wharton.  She obviously shares your love of finance and will be glad to advice you in any investing you care to do in the future!  I also love how her belly hangs over the magazine!!