The Baby Is Here!

Our new baby was born on July 17. We had decided to let the gender be a surprise, so when we were in the operating room, the nurses had Brad stand up when the baby was born so he could be the one to tell me if we were having a boy or a girl. He was so pleased to be able to tell me we had a baby boy, because that's what he had predicted. We're so excited that Johnny and Bela have a new baby brother.

Me in all of my pregnant glory before the epidural

Brad in his cool outfit before the surgery

Me trying to focus on the excitement of meeting the baby instead of the surgery

Brad thought it was funny I wanted to keep my glasses on during the surgery, but I told him I wanted to be able to actually see the baby once he arrived.

He's so precious!

Just like Johnny, Asher had to spend some time in the NICU as well. The nurses wheeled me in on the hospital bed to see the baby again before they took me down to our room. I had a more difficult recovery after the surgery with Johnny, so I didn't even get to see him in the NICU until quite a while after he was born, so it was really nice being able to see Asher again without even having to get out of bed.

We came back in the middle of the night once I could get out of bed and into a wheelchair. By this time, he was doing better but they still needed to monitor him before he could be sent down to the well-baby nursery.

Asher was able to be released from the NICU and sent down the next day so he could meet his big brother and sister. A new family photo with all 3 kids!! I can't even believe it.

Play Group

Today for play group we headed down to Macey's for a tour of the grocery store. The kids absolutely loved it, and were even more excited when they got their balloons at the end.

4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July weekend this year. The freedom festival in Provo had lots of activities all weekend for kids, so we stopped by a few times. Daylen and Ashley were also in town so it was fun being able to visit with them.

Brad helped Johnny and Bela with some of the crafts they had for kids.

Some friends invited us over for a delicious bbq on Monday night, and Johnny and Bela were loving playing with the pop-its. They stayed sitting back a little further when some of the older kids started lighting off the bigger fireworks, but they still had a great time.

Lately it seems we've been spending our weekends finishing up all those last-minute things I want to have done before the baby arrives. It was so good to be able to spend a long fun weekend together as a family and just have fun.

Matching

Today Johnny insisted on wearing his yellow and gray tie so he could match his sister for church. Bela loved it of course, but was a little sad she didn't have a tie of her own. Either way these two are too cute.

Ikea

Even though I've felt tired lately, I've been trying really hard to still take the kids out to do lots of fun things before the baby comes. Today we met Melinda at Ikea for a little shopping and lunch.

Usually they can't be pried away from the train table right by the entrance. Today, they all sat down to enjoy the end of the movie that was playing first.

I love that these 3 are such good friends.

Great Dad

It makes me so happy seeing how much these kids love their dad.

Playing at the Mall

These kids love playing at the mall, whether it's the indoor play area or climbing around on the rides.

Don't worry, John's an excellent driver.