More summer fun

More fun at Lake Erie

 Lake Huron in Mackinac City with Uncle Daniel

Meghan doing a crazy crab walk

Arch Rock on Mackinac Island

Butterfly House on the Island

Cousins

Uncle Dan and Jase

Waiting in line for the Carriage ride around the Island (all 19 of us)

Carriage ride (our first driver was not the funniest and it stormed while we were on it; our second driver (after the butterfly house) was great - lots of funny jokes while telling us about the island)

Fort Mackinac

Lake Michigan, from the Island

The ferry we took with the big jet of water

The treehouse at Grandpa and Grandma's house (a work in progress)

Our summer of fun!

Some of my favorite pictures from our summer so far...

Brandon loves the swing and he loves his animals

Meghan is the perfect big sister and loves Brandon (sometimes a little too much)

Brandon and his silly faces - we all love having conversations with him

Jase and Meghan's sailing class on Lake Erie

Jase and Meghan also had a jet ski class (and a canoeing class)

Jase by his class garden

Jase and Meghan on their roller blades

Brandon David

We are so in love with our new little guy!  Brandon David was born on Wednesday, May 23 at 4:11p.  He was a big baby at 8lbs 11oz and 20.5 inches long!

I really loved the birth experience this time around.  With this being my 3rd c-section, I was a little nervous about having a lot of scar tissue and other complications, but there was hardly any scar tissue and the only complication I tend to have is with the spinal and being horribly nauseous for 6 hours afterward (even when I get 3-4 anti nauseous drugs too).

This was the first time we weren't able to video the birth and just have some pictures once Brandon was getting checked out by the nurse and pediatrician.  This was also the first time that Joe and the baby were able to stay in the OR with me the whole time.  With both Jase and Meghan, once the first set of Apgar scores were taken, the baby and Joe were taken to the nursery, leaving me with my team of Dr's, nurses, and anesthesiologists.  Then it was off to recovery by myself, no baby.  But this time Joe and Brandon stayed with me the whole time and less than an hour from when the c-section started, I was holding and nursing my little boy.  With Jase and Meghan it was 2-3 hours before I could hold them and nurse them.

So I loved the experience here so much more than the other two.  I still despise the nausea that I get and vomiting for 6 hours afterwards.  And I loved that I could start eating real food right away (the next morning for breakfast, since I was tired of vomiting and not keeping anything down the evening of the birth).

The lactation nurse was annoying, especially since she showed up 24 hours after the birth and each shift of nurses had already signed off on us knowing how to nurse and having the correct positioning/latch.  Most all my nurses were fabulous, there was only one I didn't really like and thankfully it was after I was already mobile and getting around on my own, so I didn't need her help much.  Most all the nurses were pacifier nazi's.  They were worried about nipple confusion, but honestly Brandon is a pro at nursing and he just needs to suck on anything, most all the time (his fist, fingers, thumb, blanket when being swaddled, my finger, etc).

The time spent in the hospital (3 nights) went really quick.  Usually it seems like it drags, but with not having family in town to help with Jase and Meghan at night, Joe was home with them and it was just me at the hospital most of the time with Brandon and the nurses.

Brandon is by far the calmest and low key baby we've had.  Which is great for a 3rd baby!  He can sleep through the chaos of Jase and Meghan at home, sleeps from 11p-~7a each night with only nursing once around 3a (even at the hospital he did this), and loves to just lie awake and look around.  As long as he is swaddled well, he will fall asleep on his own without fussing too.  It is like he is a dream baby.  If all babies were this easy, people would have more babies!

Here are a couple pictures  - I need to get more with all the kids, and some good ones of the whole family now...

Meghan

Meghan is such a funny girl. She loves to cook, clean, play with most any toys, dress up and/or change her clothes several times each day, and dance and sing all over the house.

Here are some pictures from the last month or so. She can't wait for our baby to arrive in 4 months. She is practicing with her doll.

She has been drawing pictures with the baby in my belly and Joe asked her the one time what the baby's name was and she said "Sam". We all are calling the baby Sam for now, but it most likely won't stick.

And jumping on her bed is a favorite past-time, but she is now forbidden as she has broken several of her bed slats in the process. She loved jumping from on her dresser onto her bed.

This spring we found a couple small snakes in the front yard by the flower beds. The kids loved watching them and grabbing them by their tail.

They really tried hard to get the second snake, but he was wound through the thatch layer of the grass and I think he would have been pulled into pieces if I didn't stop them. I'm not a huge fan of snake's, but ones this size are ok.

As long as they aren't rattlesnakes, like the Michigan rattlesnakes we used to have at the house I grew up at in Michigan. Each spring we would find ~10 baby rattlesnakes, but never the adults. It was amazing to see the little bugger's (less than a foot long) try and shake their rattles and strike at anything that got close - like the shovel. The DNR at the time told us to either chop them in half or capture them in a jar and take them in to them for disposal, since they were in our yard...

Colorado

Back in the beginning of August I had a work trip to Boulder Colorado for a 4 day software workshop. Since Joe and I hadn't really been on a trip by ourselves without the kids, we decided this would be the perfect time for him to come along. Plus, he loves Colorado and served his 2 year mission for the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Denver North mission.

We arrived on a Sunday morning and dropped our belongings off at the hotel. Then we explored Boulder on foot. Monday we rented a car for the day and took off to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. While it was pricey to get in ($20 for a 7 day pass - but for us it was just one day), it was amazing. I even got to see my first real wild elk! As we drove in the mountains just outside of Boulder we stopped to see a waterfall. I forget the name, but it was just a short hike from the road.

Then we drove to Estes Park and from there to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We decided to take the Old Fall River Road and drive along the narrow dirt road along the side of the mountain. It gave us some amazing views. It was also scary at times, because there was literally only a foot on either side of the car (one side dropping off and the other side rock cliff straight up).

I just love this picture and have it as the background on my laptop and my mac at work.

We saw a couple areas were avalanches in the mid 1980's and early 1990's completely wiped out sides of the mountain. All that is there currently is rock; nothing growing at all.

I believe these were called chimney formations.

For it being the beginning of August, I was surprised at the amount of snow that was still present. In fact we were told that the mountain roads (both the Old Fall River Road we were on and the Trail Ridge Road) usually open Memorial Day weekend, but they were still closed as of July 4th due to the large amounts of snow that fell last winter. There was one area where the snow drift that covered the road was still about 7 feet high on the one side of the road (that was some really nasty, dirty looking snow let me tell you). The temperature change was drastic from Boulder to the Alpine Visitor Center; in Boulder it was 80F and at the Alpine Visitor Center it was about 42F and very windy.

It was neat to see the snow melt form waterfalls down the side of the mountain.

I would love to have a house built in this meadow...

We crossed the continental divide at one point and then reached the Alpine Visitor Center. At this point we got out and walked around the gift store. The high altitude was making our heads feel funny (over 13,000 ft at this point, Boulder is around 5,500-6,000ft). We drove west further and saw some beautiful lakes in some valleys. Then, we headed back towards Boulder and got us some delish pizza at Beau Joe's Pizza.

We had done a lot of research on places to eat, so we ate pretty well and I think we were happy with all our choices. I made sure that our hotel had a good breakfast that came with the room as well, so that helped us get a good start to the day. We also ate at the Rib House, Foolish Craig's Cafe, Agave Mexican Bistro, and Snarf's Sub Shop.

Overall we enjoyed our trip (and my workshop was good too). The time always goes by fast though...