The Baby is Born: Carsten Michael

Here HE is! Our precious Carsten. He was born (finally) on August 26th. He just about shared a birthday with Big Sister Heather whose birthday is the 27th. He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long. It was a fast birth, but was great. Mike and I shared that memory with Laurie and Tabea, my doulas. Laurie kept me cool by keeping a washcloth wet and cold, and Tabea held my leg up as I birthed laying on my left side. Kathy was at home with our kids - freeing up Mike to be with me, and Marcie was kind enough to arrange meals for us for the first 2 weeks - freeing us up from meal preparation and shopping. What a team, huh?

Carsten was greeted by the MOST excited big sisters and brother EVER!!! They just couldn't wait to see him. They visited us twice in the hospital before we came home.

Here is Heather on her 12th birthday. Since it was her birthday the day Carsten and I came home from the hospital, she got to come with Mike to pick us up.

I think Big Brother Jack was the Proudest of ALL. He is no longer the only boy in the family.

Waiting for Baby

Honestly, I'm getting a little impatient already and it is only August 12. My due date is August 15. Most likely baby will come 3-5 days after that - or even later. I have a "To Do" list, but don't really want to "do" anything, but get labor started. So, today I decided I would check off at least ONE thing. I cut Jack's hair. Here are some pics. What do you think? His hair is so darn straight it shows off every mistake. I usually cut one day, then fix it for the next couple of days, or Mike just gets the buzzer and fixes it for me. Jack was a real trooper - it took me a while. You can compare it to his hair in my last post.

R&R - not too far from home

Just a 25 minute drive from home is a lake with a few hotels and restaurants and parks. We enjoyed some time away for the weekend. Park first with Dedricks, then off to the hotel.

Rachel is not too big to play!

Julia enjoys the park too!

Look at the size of this Park!!! Would you go down that slide?

Kids are just across the lake from where our hotel!

There it is...the green building across the lake.

Time for some lunch. We had to wait an hour, but it was worth it. Plus the kids had plenty to play on while we waited...and waited...and waited.

And we didn't have to wait alone, Dedrick family was with us!

Enjoying a nice breakfast outdoors!!!

View from our rooms balcony - that is where we played the first day.

We enjoyed the gym and the pool!!!

Two to three weeks until due date.

So much fun...she fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting in the car to go home.