Blessings come in all shapes and sizes

Tonight is Christmas eve and we have been blessed by an unknown person or persons. As we came back from Gjandens parents house (around midnight) we got a loud knock on our front door and as we went to answer it we found bags and boxes of diapers in Gideons and Kaitlyn's sizes plus wet wipes to go with them. With it was a note with cash inside saying Merry Christmas. As some of you know we had to really scale back with what we wanted to do for Christmas and this was a wonderful blessing. So to our Secret Santa, we give a very heartfelt Thank You and God Bless. Merry Christmas!

It's that time again!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/JNitp5qg6P79RZWa

Sorry I can't get it to load here. Gjanden will have to try it later. The rest of you....watch out! You never know when we'll get your picture in one of these.

Growing like a weed

We took Kaitlyn to her first Doctors visit on Monday. He said that she's one of the healthiest looking newborns he's ever seen. She's gained back her birth wieght plus two ounces, so she weighs 7 pounds 4 ounces now and she grew 3 inches. Yep, that's right...3 whole inches. Almost 4 actually. She was 17 1/2 inches long at birth and is now 20 1/2 inches long. That's in only two weeks! Add on to the fact that she's already gained her birth weight back and I'd have to agree with our Doctor's assesment that she is a very healthy little girl. Gjanden made the comment that if our kids keep growing the way they do that they'll outgrow us for sure. I'm inclined to agree with that statement too.

Kaitlyn Adara Mitchell

Yesterday Brittany was induced at the hospital. We went in around 7:00 and got things rolling by about 9:00. Our regular doctor was out of town, so we had a stand in doctor overseeing the delivery. They put Brittany on some drugs that started her contractions coming more frequently and with greater intensity. A few hours later an anesthesiologist came in and gave Brittany an epidural, but only had time to give her one dose before being called back to an emergency with another delivery.

Around 1:30 our stand in doctor came to check how things were progressing and decided to go ahead and break her water. After this Brittany sent me to go get some lunch for myself since I hadn't eaten since 6:00 that morning.

Shortly after I left the anesthesiologist came back to set up the epidural drip but told her there would be a few contractions that she would be able to feel because of the lapse in doses. He left and at this point she was the only person in the room. She felt 3 contractions that were really painful. On the fourth one she felt her hips widening and on the fifth one she felt Kaitlyn's head pop out. Brittany started calling for help, both pushing the nurse's call button and calling out the door.

By this point I had finished my lunch (most of it anyways, for some reason I decided I didn't want to finish my tatter tots). I walked back from the cafeteria and up to the room that I thought I had left her in. There was some hand sanitizer outside the room, so I lathered up and got ready to enter the room. Suddenly there were several nurses and the anesthesiologist rushing to the room next door and I heard Brittany yelling for help. I followed the nurses into the room just in time to see Kaitlyn finish sliding out.

Now for the stats:

Born: 10/19/09 at 2:17 pm

Weight: 7 Lbs 2 Oz

Length: 17.5 Inches

Strawberry Blond Hair.

Brittany's Birthday

We had a lot of fun on Brittany's birthday. I don't know why, but I always like giving her one of her gifts the night before her birthday and this year it was a plush, heat trapping bathrobe that should keep her nice and warm this winter.

On her birthday I came home for lunch and took her to the DMV so she could renew her driver's license. (Yeah, we put some things off to the last possible minute sometimes, but we got it taken care of so she doesn't have to take the driver's test again).

It was a challenge to find a place where we could eat out (because of the gestational diabetes we have to work around), so I poked around on the internet a little bit and found the nutrition facts for all of the menu items at one of our local favorite restaurants. This was very helpful because we could look ahead of time at what foods she could have instead of having to figure it out and guess at it at the restaurant. I had a large Cajun style steak with mashed potatoes and cinnamon apples (very good) and Brit had a salmon and shrimp platter. So not only cudos to a delicious meal, but cudos to Chili's for considering their customer's needs and making that kind of information easily accessible.

As a bonus to the day Brittany's sister, Aliesha, gave birth to their daughter so we went to the hospital for a visit after the restaurant. Unfortunetally we forgot our camara, so no pictures, but it was a really fun 'gift' for Brittany to be there and hold her neice for the first time who shares the same birthday.

Later that night I gave her the other presents I had gotten. Two books by a local author (I cannot for the life of me remember his name now) who apparently is also helping finish the 'Wheel of Time' series for the late Robert Jordan. I didn't realize that at the time I purchased the books, but she seemed really excited about it, so I think I did OK with figuring out what would interest her.

All in all, a very fun day. One of these times I'll have to remember the camara so we can include some pictures in these posts.

Happy birthday! (I know it was a couple of days ago now.) I love you!

Gjanden's Old Artwork

So I was rummaging around one of our closets when I came across an old art portfolio of mine from high school that I thought would be fun to share. Most of these are pencil sketches, and there are a few pastels in there too. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed drawing and really how out of practice I am now. Hope you enjoy!

Bubbles and Dresses

Well, we had quite a bit of fun on Sunday blowing bubbles with Gideon. It entertained him for almost 45 minutes.I was also able to finally finish the blessing dress that I'll be using for Kaitlyn in a few months. It was so much fun to make, and even more fun to see the finished product. I'll bet it'll be even better when we get to see it on her!

Silly Dinner Fun

Gideon enjoys playing games with papa. Especially at dinnertime. So papa thought it would be funny to play the "Monkey See - Monkey Do " game with Spaghetti hands. They both thought it was hilarious...

Gideons first bike ride

Gjandens parents gave us a device that will let kids sit on the bike and ride around without hurting themselves. Gideon had a grand time riding around with papa for about a half an hour outside a few days ago.My Grandma Nancy also came down from Colorado a couple of weeks ago. It took Gideon a little bit of time and bribes (food) to come to her, but he did warm up after a little while. It was a lot of fun getting to see her again.

Gideon's Zoo and Bra trip

We took Gideon to the Zoo this past weekend for the first time and he had a lot of fun making kitty noises at the cougar and other animals. He was terrified of the big, fake elephant and the bronze Gorrilla but we did manage to get a couple pictures of him with them. We also ran into Ammon and Nichole up there right before the bird show. We walked around with them for a couple of hours after that and greatly enjoyed the day.
In other news, we got Gideon a collared shirt to wear to church and he found himself a rather interesting tie. While I wasn't looking he pilfered one of my bra's and stuck it over his head. He really liked his new accessory until his foot got caught in the other loop and he could no longer walk very well.

Strip Tease Gideon

Gideon has found that he now enjoys taking off his clothes. He does so in bed, when he eats and when mom is trying to change his diaper. Maybe it's just because it's so hot outside that he feels the need to be in his birthday suit. Who knows? Anyway, we caught him with the camera pulling one of these stunts.

In other news, the new management company that has taken over most of our HOA stuff had a "getting to know you" type BBQ and brought one of those big, inflatable toys for the kids to play in. Gideon sure enjoyed himself.

The Dragonfly and the Bug-a-Boo

We found a Dragonfly on our sidewalk this afternoon who wasn't able to fly anywhere and we all had quite a fun time trying to get Gideon to hold it. He was very afraid of it most of the time, but sometimes he would get curious enough to let it crawl on him. It was very cute.

When it rains it pours

Well, a few months ago I remember writing about how our funace broke....today the washing machine that Gjanden and I bought right after our wedding has become kaput. It got about halfway through a cycle and then just stopped working. I had to take all of the clothes out by hand and throw them in the bathtub where they are currently sitting. I'm not entirely sure what to do with them now. And of course...they're most of my maternity clothes besides the ones I'm currently wearing. Stupid washing machine. I'd kick it for good measure but I'd be too afraid of breaking my toes.

New Nephew Quinn!

Well, this morning around 5 am Gjanden and I recieved the news that the newest member of our extended family had arrived. My brother Joshua and his wife Nicci welcomed their 6 pound 9 ounce baby Quinn into the world. We got to go visit them in the hospital this afternoon and hold Quinn...and I have to say that he was so light it didn't really feel like I was holding anything at all! His face is so long! He reminds me quite a bit of Josh. It was really fun to see them and we look foreward to when they are able to make the trip up to Sunday dinners again.

Idaho Spuds

Well, this past fourth of July Weekend we traveled to and from Idaho where we visited with Gjandens grandparents and camped and fished for a few days. Here are some pictures showing what we did.

This is Gjanden's Mom's parents. They wanted to get a Four generational picture with them before it was too late. Gideon had lot's of fun up there playing on the ramp that Gjanden's grandpa had built for his grandma's wheelchair.


This is Gjanden, Mike and Mattius baiting their hooks for the first fishing trip of the vacation. The mosquitoes were eating us like Turkey on Thanksgiving day.

This is Tallus, Dadre's husband, and Molly, their 3 legged dog finger fishing for baby trout that were in abundance everywhere. Molly was afraid of the water but was too curious about the fish to resist getting in at least a little ways.

This is Tallus after he's caught one of the small fish with his finger. He caught three of them that way and we had quite a good laugh about it since the only other fish we caught the entire trip were just a little bit bigger than that.

This is a picture that Gjanden took of his favorite place in the world. It's called Iron Lake and he was so stoked to go up to Idaho to visit it. It's where he and his family used to go every year to camp.