New Addition

The birth of Wynter was unlike any of my other children...for starters we made plans with our Doctor to be induced on my due date if she hadn't come yet. It made life a lot easier on my parents, that way they were able to book a flight and be guaranteed a baby to come while they were here. It also made it easier to find people to take care of my girls. We were informed by the Dr. that we would get a call from the Hospital between the hours of 3am and 7 am on Feb 17th. I was not too happy about the time, but very happy to have an end in sight. So we made arrangements for Mia to stay the night at Jackson's house, and ride the bus to school with him the next day. We weren't too sure what to do about McKinlee, I didn't think she would be too keen on sleeping over at someone else's house. Then I came up with a brilliant solution. My good friend Jaime agreed to come and spend the night at my house. That way when we got the call we didn't' have to drag McKinlee out of the house at some ungodly hour and risk not getting there in time and losing our bed.

I spent Tuesday packing bags for each of the girls and myself, and getting frustrated as McKinlee unpacked them. Finally I put her the play pen that she has always hated, but for some reason loves now. Hallelujah! Later I anxiously awaited the call that it was time to come to the hospital. Around 4:20 am I gave up and headed to bed, at 4:30am the phone rang and it was time to go.

Josh and I grabbed my bag, and headed out into a snow storm. We barley made it up the hill to the main road, the roads were terrible, we slid several times. And were very grateful when we got to the Hospital safe and sound.

We checked in and they started to induce me around 6. Around 10:30am my contractions were coming so hard and strong, I finally turned to Josh and said, either I am fully dilated or this Epidural isn't working. Get somebody in here! With out warning a few minutes later my Dr. showed up to check my progress. To his surprise I was fully dilated and the baby was well on her way. He had no nurses because they had around 8 others delivering at the same time. So he frantically grabbed the phone and paged for anyone available, and told me not to move. 10 minutes later our beautiful baby was born.

My parents flight was on the same day so we had planned on them coming to the hospital to see the baby, and pick up the girls. Their flight out of Moab was cancelled, they made arrangements to fly out of another airport and catch a later flight into Pittsburgh, they missed their connecting flight from Denver to Pittsburgh and had to sleep at the airport...we didn't know what to do. By the time Josh got the girls to someone else's house it would be after midnight...so we had a family slumber party. I wish I could have taken a picture. Josh and Mia cuddled on the pull out chair, and McKinlee shared the hospital bed, with Wynter in the baby crate. It was quite a site. But a very memorable experience.

The next day Josh picked Mia up from School, and raced my parents who had finally made it to Pittsburgh to the Hospital.

So that was the events of bringing Wynter into the world. Things didn't go as smoothly has we had planned/hoped but it was memorable. She has truly been a light and Joy in the dreary winter we have had, and the events that the season caused on her birth Story. We couldn't decide between naming her Wynter-Elizabeth or Crescent Jade. We chose her name to remind us of her birth and the blessing she is. The girls adore her, and we do too.

We Love Piggies

Love Day

I know this post is extremely late but I had a baby just a few days later and it just wasn't on the top of my to do list...
We had a wonderful Valentine's Day this year, but to be honest I really don't care for it as a holiday. I figure every day had better be Valentine's Day or don't bother. Ha Ha. I do try and make it special for the kids though.


We had a wonderful time this year decorating heart shaped rice crispy treats, which inevitably turned into McKinlee Decorating our table...is anyone surprised?

News

Wynter-Elizabeth Crescent Olsen

Born: Feb 17, 2010 at 11:01 am

Weight: 7 lb 7 oz

Height: 21.5 inches



Beautiful, Healthy, and cuddly



Details coming soon

Super Delish

So today I had my final dr appt...it was at 8:30 in the morning. I am not a morning person and I usually try to schedule my appts for early afternoon, but I really thought I would have a baby by now, so I said ok. Go figure. Early morning does have it's benefits though, Josh took the morning off to come with me, and we went out to breakfast, which is my favorite meal to go out for, but we rarely do...I don't know why. Maybe because I choose sleep over fabulous breakfasts. We decided to try a new to us place and had heard that there is a place in Dormont that is fabulous called the Dor Stop Diner. So we tried it out...apparently it was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. And it was fabulous. Mia got chocolate chip pancakes which she ate up before I could take a picture, Josh had a dish called the jumpot...(i think) it was a garbage plate of eggs, sausage, peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes, (and yes he even ate the tomatoes.) I was torn between the Western Eggs Benedict which the person next to me ordered and it took all of my will power not to go and eat off of her plate, and the Raspberry Stuffed French Toast...all I have to say is every bite was a heavenly, calorie filled, crunchy, raspberry bite of deliciousness. And worth every bite, and yes I ate the whole thing, with a little help from Josh and MiaWe left one very full and happy family

Urban Camping

This weekend Pittsburgh had the worst winter storm it has seen in 15 years. Yesterday afternoon, We enjoyed watching the snow fall and were talking about what our playing in the snow plans were going to be for today, when suddenly our power went out. So there we were in the middle of a winter storm, no heat, no lights, no oven...and praying that I didn't go in to Labor.

So we lit some candles took the girls up to our bedroom and started our adventure, I wish I could have gotten more pictures...but no light doesn't make for great pics. We talked and played by candle light until the girls fell asleep and not wanting them to get too cold sleeping by alone in their beds, Josh and I arranged our bed "Willa Wanka Grandparent Style" I slept with Mia at the top of the bed and Josh with McKinlee at the bottom. We watched out the window and saw the blue flashes light up the sky as another power line went out, and even saw a tree snap and topple under the weight of the snow. It was a long night, in the morning I pulled some old donuts out of the freezer and we called it breakfast. The rest of the day was spent playing. We taught Mia how to play phase 10, while McKinlee entertained herself by pushing the button on Uno Attack...she would laugh every time the cards shot out at her.

Around 2 the snow stopped, the sun came out and we dug ourselves out. Mia tried her snowboard a little, and McKinlee practiced driving the car while Josh removed the two feet off of it. We were so happy once the power came back on, we all really enjoyed our day back in the 1800's.

Michevious to say the least

McKinlee loves to play with everything, she is very curious and can figure just about everything out. Today I made some banana bread, and started to boil some water for a little Mac and Cheese for McKinlee's lunch. I ran downstairs to grab some ice from the freezer and while down there McKinlee locked the basement door. Yes she has learned to lock the door, but doesn't know how to turn it the other way to unlock it. I knew the bread only had about 5 minutes left of cooking, and the water was boiling so I began to search for something I could use to unlock the door. I couldn't find anything. I had just gotten out of the shower, had on no coat, or shoes and it was snowing outside, but I ran out the back to the front of the apt only to find that the Dead bolt was locked too. So I ran back around to the back and tried to break down the basement door, but being 38 weeks pregnant and only having 4 inches of floor leverage doesn't allow for enough force to break down a door, not to mention that I would have a contraction every time I hit impact. So I decided to grab a screwdriver and take off the door knob, but the front fell off too and now I had a locked door with no knob. AAAHHHHH!!!! I could smell the bread burning and had no idea how much water was left in the pan I could hear McKinlee crying and despite her best efforts she couldn't find my phone. So I ran back outside and began to knock on the neighbors doors, (the office was closed for lunch) trying to find someone home so I could call the emergency Maintenance number to come let me in. I finally found someone that was home, and they were kind and giving me socks and shoes and a coat to wear, but really I just wanted to get back to my apt; where I could at least look in and see McKinlee. After about 30 minutes from the beginning of this whole ordeal, Maintence showed up and let me in. I ran in grabbed my tear stained faced little girl, who was trying to put the door knob back on, pulled the charred bread out of the oven, and turned off the less than 1/2 of an inch of remaining boiling water. Glad everything was ok, but now I am going to cuddle with my now clinging baby and take a nap as the adrenalin rush wears off.