Halloween was pretty fun this year. It was a beautiful night and Dylan was so excited. Todd stayed home passing out the KING size snickers bars with Gavin and mom and I took Dylan around. He was so sweet to everyone. He would always say trick or treat followed by a thank you.

pictures pictures and more pictures

Day 3:
YIPPEE... its the day we can go home. Baby Gavin had his circumcision in the morning and then they did his hearing test. All went well. Todd had to work and so did my mom, so my dad took Dylan to daycare and picked me up from the hospital. What a HUGE help that was. He had to make 2 trips to the car. The first was to take the luggage down and the next was to come back and get the babies sleeper since his going home outfit was too big. He is just a little peanut.

We dropped my pain prescription off at the pharmacy and headed home. Dad decided to make some homemade soup and also chicken and rice. What a nice treat. He picked up Dylan from the daycare and made a grocery visit. Mom came up later that night and stayed the rest of the week.

In case you were wondering, Dylan's armband read, "Dylan- I am the big brother". It was really nice for our nurse to do that for him.
Day 2:
Todd decided to go home and take a shower and spend some time with Dylan. They arrived back at the hospital with my parents and Dylan during the evening. Todd's cousin Eric and his wife stopped by too. That was really nice. After visiting hours, Todd, Dylan and my parents went home and Gavin and I just relaxed. The nurse gave him a bath and also took him to the nursery that night, so I got a few hours of sleep.

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Day 1:
I started having contractions at 7am and then finally went to the hospital at 11am. I didn't know if they were real or not, but thought I didn't want to chance it. Good thing too. Todd arrived at the hospital around 1-ish and they gave me my epidural at 3pm. At 4:35 they said it was time to push and Gavin arrive at 4:40pm. What a precious little gift.

My parents were a huge help. They picked Dylan up from the daycare, gave him dinner and then came to the hospital. It was so nice seeing his smile on his face and to watch him hold his little brother for the first time. Angie, Curt, Carter and Avery came later in the evening and we had a nice visit.

Todd stayed at the hospital with me the first night and my parents went home with Dylan. He was a good little boy for them.

We had our baby!!!

We had our baby on Monday afternoon at 4:40pm. We named him Gavin Patrick and he weighs 7 lbs 11 ounces and is 20 3/4 inches long. So far he has been a great baby. He isn't sleeping much at night, but he is during the day. Dylan loves to give his little brother lots and lots of kisses. He even likes to hold him and wants to help out. I'll be posting some pictures soon.

contractions have begun...

Hi everyone, well I must say this baby is a little teaser. I started to get contractions this evening, but now they have stopped. My parents were here for the day and they debated whether to stay or not, but I said I think I was ok. I'll keep everyone posted, but right now we are just playing the waiting game.

pumpkin carving

Speaking of pumpkins, our little one hasn't come yet. Andi and I are really funny with dates, so here goes. I'm cool with the 25, 26, 28, 29, 1, 2. Dad's birthday is Nov 25, Maxine's birthday is June 26, Kenna's birthday is May 28, My birthday is June 29, 11/1 is just easy to remember and December 2 is Angie's birthday. Knowing my luck though, we will have this baby on Halloween.



We had a really nice time carving pumpkins with Ang/Curt and kids. We ordered pizza and then started designing, carving and getting all the goop out of the pumpkins. Todd decided to do a Spiderman one since Dylan is really into that right now. His took a few hours to do. My favorite one has to be the Hawkeye though- way to go Angie!







Of course I got an injury though... with a toothpick of all things. I was carving out my web and then my web broke. I tried fixing it and jammed the toothpick in the pumpkin and then slid it across my hand.

You will be missed

Our sympathies go out to Laura L. Willenborg's family and to her fiance Dan Pfab. We can't believe how young you were and now you have passed. Your family is in our heart and prayers.

Happy belated anniversary mom and dad

Wow... 37 years has already flown by. I wish you guys many more happy years ahead. We can't wait to see you guys soon and for you to meet your second grandson.

Happy Birthday Amanda

Happy Birthday to you Amanda. We hope you had a very special day.

Kenna- picture perfect

I just love this picture of my little niece Kenna. She is soooo adorable.

No baby yet...

Hi everyone- well, no baby yet. My due date is actually Sunday, but I'm ready to go at least physically. The sad thing is, I'm working on getting the baby's room together and I'm still working on a few projects for work, so I'm hoping he holds off a little longer. My parents are thinking about coming down this weekend just in case.

We had a great weekend in Des Moines. Todd had a conference there and we left on Wednesday night. Dylan had a blast with his cousins. It was fun playing outside on Thursday




and going to the Science Center on Friday >



and to the zoo. >




We also went to Living History Farms on Saturday night




and then to Kenna and Kade's soccer games on Sunday. We sure miss those guys a lot.

Thank you Judy

My friend Judy is so giving... she just bought Dylan a lion backpack with his name on it and a coloring book holder with his name on it. We LOVE it... we haven't shown him the book holder yet. We are going to give that to him at the hospital. I've picked up some coloring books for him, books, and added the crayons. He will think it is very special. Thank you again Judy. We wish you lived closer to us.

13 days to go

WOW, I can't believe 13 days until my due date. This pregnancy sure has gone by very fast. I'm feeling great, so I really don't think it will happen this weekend. At least, I hope not. We plan to go to DSM for Todd's conference and spend time with Andi/Troy and kids and Todd's parents and Austin. We are sooo excited. The crazy thing is Todd is already packed and I'll pack later for Dylan and me. Dylan has already asked if he could bring his spiderman jammies and batman ones. He says that Kader Tador will like them. Kade is his cousin and Dylan just always calls his Kader Tador, pretty cute. We plan to swim at the hotel, go to the zoo lights, and a pumpkin farm. It should be a lot of fun. Maybe the adults can play some cards in the evening too, who knows.

I'm in the process of redoing Dylan's old dresser. His new one comes in tomorrow. I have it sanded down and the old wallpaper strips removed. I'm going to paint it this afternoon and do touch ups tonight. I really want to have the room near completion before we leave. Then, when we get back, we will just have the waiting game.

Work has been pretty busy lately. We have a hospital opening in a few weeks, so I've been getting everything completed for that. I just don't want any loose ends while I'm on leave. Also, we have another one that is expected to open in December, so I'm trying to get as much done for that as possible too. The opening for that is while I'm out on leave. We will see... most likely it will get pushed back though.

I have some pictures on my phone from this weekend. We went to a pumpkin patch with Ang/Curt and also Adam/Alyssa. It was a very nice time and the weather was absolutely perfect.

goofball

Dylan likes to line things up in a row like a cho-cho train. I just love these pictures of him being silly.

Coloring time

Happy 4 year anniversary

I just wanted to wish Todd a happy 4 year anniversary. We went out to dinner last night and Ang/Curt watched Dylan. It was nice just to be with eachother. I hope there are many more happy years ahead of us.