Bode's Newborn Photos-The Highlights

I ended up narrowing down the 302 pictures that I took to 57 and I thought that was pretty good.  I won't post them all here, but thought I would share a few, just so show how adorable (and I'm not biased or anything) our little Bode baby is!  She was just over a week old when we got these.

Bode's 1st Month

Our first month with our Bode baby has been awesome.  First, I am sooo glad not to be pregnant and actually have her here!  Second, she is so fun and such a good baby that everyone seems to love her.  Third, the kids love her and fourth, I love not being pregnant anymore!!(I know I said that but I really mean it-I love feeling more like myself and having some energy back!)

 Since day one she has been such a joy.  She has really come into our family and felt like she has always been here.  She is great at rolling with the punches.

 Sometimes the literal punches that come with having an older brother and sister!  But those two love her to pieces and I know that they will watch out for her always.

We were so excited to be home from the hospital and the kids couldn't wait to get her out of the carseat.

 This is how she spent most of her first month.  Like most newborns, she would sleep anywhere.  Harrison kept asking me not to feed her so that she would stay awake more.  Sorry buddy...no one would like that for very long.

And of course, she makes all sorts of faces like every newborn.  Although she hasn't mastered Blue Steel, she is good at...

The shy look...

The yawn...

 The surprised look...

 The "Why do you keep handing me over to them?"

 The start to a smile...

 And the pondering life look.

 We were so grateful to have my mom come and help out for a few weeks and the kids all loved having her here.  It seemed like an easy transition until my mom left and real life started.  It has been ok though.

 And the girls have matching outfits.  The first of many I'm sure, but I'll try not to go overboard!

Bode Elizabeth's Arrival

**It's a lot of words as I explain the story, so if you don't want to read, scroll to the end and just check out the pictures and stats of our little Bode girl!**

This little one has been full of surprises since we knew she was coming.  First, we were suprised to find out we were having another baby in our family (Bode and Raegan are 20 months apart).  Then we decided to wait and find out gender and then she came in her own time.  I was due on August 23rd and we did not want to be induced this time since I wasn't really happy with my experience with Raegan.  Knowing that, I pretty much planned on her coming late because Harrison was a week overdue.  Well, the 23rd came and went and then the 24th.  Jeff seemed pretty confident that this baby was going to come though so he got all his church stuff done on the 24th thinking that we wouldn't be at church the next day.  Well, the whole day went without any changes and we put the kids to bed and had our normal evening.  My sister is here now and the 3 adults sat down to watch a movie and have some ice cream.  During the movie I was feeling uncomfortable (totally normal for anyone who is overdue!) and Jeff really didn't even notice me shifting so it was no big deal.  Then our movie ended and as I was getting ready for bed, I still felt uncomfortable and a little sick as well.  I figured if I laid down, I would feel better.  I was kind of right...we went to bed about 10:45 and I was feeling better.  I was having contractions but they seemed like the ones I had been having for weeks.  I told Jeff I would wake him up if they got worse so he tried to sleep.  Not more then 15 minutes and I am not sleeping and apparently neither was Jeff because he said he was listening and timing my contractions as I would groan a little with each one and he told me they were about every 3 minutes.  I tried to work through them and then a few minutes later decided we should just head to the hospital.  So, we left the kids with my sister and took off.  The contractions were regular but still not really painful so I was afraid they were going to send us home even though I was overdue.
We checked into the hospital about 11:45 pm and I was in labor so they put us in a room and we waited.  The nurse came to check me about 12:30 am and  accidentally broke my water, my contractions got really intense and my progress slowed.  I was feeling like I should push and I wasn't ready, so I thought that if I got the epidural I would lose that sensation.  The nurse told me if I pushed too much, I could end up with a c-section.  So, they called for the epidural and he showed up about 1:30.  Jeff had to leave and they barely got the epidural in, laid me down and before I was numb, my next contration was horrible and I screamed at the nurse.  Sure enough, I was a 10 and the baby's head was right there.  So much for the epidural!!  I told them to run and get Jeff.  Luckily they told him to hurry so he ran and made it before my next contraction.  The room felt crazy and I was so relieved when he walked in!  The next contraction was at 1:50.  I tried not to push because there was still no Dr. in the room, they hadn't taken the bed apart and it was crazy, but without hardly a push I all of the sudden felt much better and then I heard her cry.  It took me a few minutes to realize that I was listening to my baby cry.  I didn't even push her out and she was there.  After a minute, the nurse looked at Jeff and told him to tell me the sex of the baby.  I hadn't even thought about it yet, I was still trying to process that I had just had a baby so fast!  Jeff told me we had a little girl and I was so excited.  Finally, a Dr. showed up.  It wasn't the on-call Dr. but another Dr. who just happened to be there with her own patient that night and she made sure that everything was good and let Jeff cut the cord.  Bode was crying through all of this, but she came out healthy and tiny!  At only 6 lb. 9 oz. she was by far our smallest baby!  After checking her out, Jeff got to hold her while they finished with me and then I finally got to hold my sweet baby.

It was an exhausting night, but well worth it.  The kids came the next morning with my sister and got to meet their new little sister.  Harrison was a little sad that he didn't have a baby brother, but got over it pretty quickly when he saw her.  She came out with a good set of lungs, a good appetite and a pretty good sleeping pattern. Everything went well so we spent the rest of Sunday in the hospital and went home Monday afternoon.  It was great to come home with Bode.  We love our little Bode baby!

Bode Elizabeth Ward
August 25, 2013
1:50 AM
6 lb 9 oz 20 in.

First Day

 Harrison started another year of preschool on Sept. 5th.  He is in his 3rd year of preschool (he just misses the kindergarten cut off) and is somewhat excited for another year.  He is looking forward to "real school" where his friends go next year, but I am excited to have one more year with my little guy! He is my helper and his little sister's playmate.  I am happy that he gets to do a few hours of preschool a week and look forward to another year of watching him grow, before sending him off into the great big world!  Love you buddy and I hope you have another great year of preschool!

August/End of Summer

Besides taking a fun family trip in August, we tried to enjoy some time at home as well.  The kids loved playing in boxes which turned into spaceships, camping tents, surprise gifts and all sorts of other adventures.  We enjoyed our weekly trip to the library for story time and picking out new books.

We even managed a trip to the zoo, thanks to my awesome sister coming with us.  And we are so excited to have her living with us for the next little while.  The kids love having their aunt around and I love having my sister here.  Extra adult hands are always helpful...too bad she has to work too!

We also enjoyed some time in the backyard

and Harrison has been working on his "preschool pages" all summer.  He likes it most days and it is helping him learn and hopefully getting him ready for homework and the school routine that will start happening next school year!

Family Vacation

Vacation in August and a baby in August?  Yep that's right...we are a little crazy like that.  At 37 wks. we rented a car, loaded up our stuff and drove to North Carolina to spend the week with Jeff's family.  We had an awesome time and although there was some fear the baby could come (we found the closest hospital just in case!), we are so glad we went.  Harrison and Raegan enjoyed the week with their cousins and family, we had great weather and a relaxing trip.

It was about 18 driving hours.  We did it in 2 days and it took about 24 with stops.  But the kids were good.  We had devices, snacks and we did plenty of singing for Raegan.

Once there, it was easy.  Just play at the beach, relax in the house, swim in the pool, eat, fish, and look for crabs.  We also saw sea turtle babies and played games.  We have the best family ever!

I didn't have my camera, so most of these are phone pictures. I'm hoping to get some pictures from the trip from the rest of Jeff's family as well.