Ashlynn Ellie

 Ashlynn came 10 days early on May 30th. She weighed 6 pounds and 7 ounces and 17.5inches
 (If you want to read the delivery story it's below the pictures)

My water broke at home on Tuesday night at about 11:15pm. Since Brian was at work I called my parents to take me to the hospital and stay with Cade. I had to have a test done to make sure that my water had actually broken. Once they had done the test and made sure she was facing head down they admitted me into labor and delivery. At around 3:30am I still wasn't having any contractions on my own so they started me on pitocin. That started working right away and I was having a contraction every 2-3 minutes. I had and epidural put in as soon as possible, about 45 minutes later(I do not have a very high pain threshold). Brian was still at work but I was checking in with him every hour or so. He got to the hospital at around 7am. I sent him to get some breakfast and while he was gone they checked me and found out it was time to start pushing. We were both really surprised that it was happening so fast since it took so much longer with Cade. They called my doctor who had just gotten to the clinic downstairs. She came right up to deliver our baby. We started pushing just after 8am and she was born at 8:20am. It only took 3 contractions and then she was here. It was completely opposite from Cade's delivery. I had the best epidural. It blocked the pain in all the right places and I had full control of my legs. It was heaven sent.

We have been home for a week now and are still adjusting to our new life. Each day gets a little better. Cade is doing great with her. He isn't too interested in holding her but will give her the occasional kiss. He loves to help throw away her diapers or bring me a binky or her bottle. I hope he keeps being so helpful.

Makes me smile

Look who's 2!

Happy 2nd birthday Cade! We love you!

On his 1st birthday.

The day he was born.

Turning 27 and #2

Brian and my brother both have a birthday in January. We had a celebration at my parents house and a joint birthday cake.

Me and Brian on his birthday.
We are happy to announce that baby number 2 will arrive in June. This is the bump at 20 weeks.
We found out today that it's going to be a girl. Cade is very excited to have a little sister!

2011

Here's a recap on our year:

January-Brian turned 26

February-We went down to Arizona and Brian got to do a mock dog fight in a fighter airplane with a retired Airforce pilot. We also visited an old mission buddy of his. Oh and Cade got his first tooth and got sick for the first time.

March-Cade turned 1! Yay! It was a fun day. We decorated our house and had our families over for pizza and cake. He got some great presents. (Pictured above)

April-Cade started walking.

May-I turned 25 and we celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary.

June-Cade gave up his bottle and his morning nap. He also learned that he loves to play outside.

July-Brian and I went to Switzerland and Paris with his family. We left Cade here with my parents, we thought an overseas vacation was a bit much for our little 16 month old baby.

August-We got another dog. He is a lab/husky mix and we named him Chief. Our other dog Shoku is very happy to have a friend to play with.

September-hmmm...came and went without much to report.

October-Cade broke his leg. He got a little red cast that he had to wear for 3 weeks. He did great with it on he hardly noticed it al all. And for Halloween he was a lion. (Broken leg pictured above)

November-We celebrated Thanksgiving with Brian's family and went to California to watch his little sister Natalee in a soccer tournament.

December-Full of Christmas and family fun. Cade enjoyed Christmas more this year. He had fun ripping the paper and playing with his new toys. He got a Cozy Coupe car from my parents and a play kitchen from Brian's parents. He loves both of them and plays with them constantly. (Cade in his car pictured above)

We are excited for 2012 and all the fun things it'll bring to us!

We went to Switzerland and Paris

Last month we went to Europe with Brian's family. It was such a fun trip. Switzerland is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Brian wants to retire there someday. We went hiking, did a high adventure ropes course, went into the city of Lucerne and did an amazing race game to explore the city(which was really just a distraction so Brian's younger brother could propose to his girlfriend), ate lots of good food and then headed to Paris and saw the sights there. Here are a few pictures from the trip, if you want to see more check out my facebook.

This is the view from the apartment we stayed at in Switzerland.

The look out point from one of the hikes.

A very large painting in the Lourve.

The Arc de Triomphe.

The view from the very top platform of the Eiffel Tower.

Nothing much to report

Cade of course adorable. He is now 15 months old.
He is now 28.5inches tall and weighs 22pounds. He now has 5 teeth(working on the 6th) he also drinks exclusively out of a sippy cup, but was quite sad to give up the bottle. He isn't really talking too much, just baby babbling.

He loves to climb the stairs and go upstairs.He can go up but hasn't figured out how to get down yet.

He loves to look at books. (Not really have them read to him, but he loves to flip the pages) He can make the sounds of a dog, gorilla, and lion.

He started walking at the end of April. He is getting really good at it and can almost run. He is turning into a very big boy and we love being around him.