Our new piano!

Here's a picture of our new-to-us piano. We just got it off craigslist as an early chrismas present to the family. It is 25 years old, and was an economy piano even then, so it's nothing to brag about, but I am SOOOO happy to finally have a piano to learn on! I have been playing on it daily and just can't get enough! Yay!

Ashlyn: 13 days

Okay, so my friend Brandi took these newborn shots of Ashlyn when she was just 13 days old. They are AMAZING! I love them... I had a hard time picking just a few that I liked so I ended up loading 96 of them to picasa! Hahaha! Here's the slideshow.

My kids are fish!

So both of my children can swim across the pool now! Ezra can swim across the small end and Eliza can swim the entire length of the pool! It is absolutely amazing! It brings such peace of mind to know that if they fell in, they would be safe. Shiloh takes them swimming almost every day now and I'd say it is their favorite thing to do! Here's Ezra, at just 2 years old, swimming:

Ashlyn: Week 2 & 3

Ezra has been more mischievous than normal since Ashlyn was born. He's always been a little incorrigible, but as you can see in this picture, it is a little heightened. The pink mark on his face is 12-hour lipstick. Yes, he loves to play "Picasso" and so here he is in action. The unfortunate part about it is that we had pictures scheduled this night! We scrubbed and scrubbed and that lipstick would NOT come off!!! I had planned to just put cover-up over it and call it good. I did so and Shiloh thought it looked too feminine and tried to get it off. Well, wouldn't ya know it just wiped off after that? Apparently the cover-up had some sort of binding agent in it and made that lipstick just come right off! So tip of the week: you can take 12-hour lipstick off with liquid powder cover up (ya know the kind that is pasty--not powdery--and you use a sponge to put it on).


Our AC went out for 3 days last week. It got up to 91 degrees in our house! Thankfully, we have a pool, so the kids spent a lot of time with Grandma out in our pool. Here's them running around in undies because it felt too hot for clothes! And poor little Ashlyn was nearly comatose all the time she was so warm. Keeping her awake for any amount of time was definitely a chore.

Our little doll.

Ashlyn: Week 1

Week 1 is over and all I can say is that I am incredibly grateful for a healthy, calm child. The kids both adore her and dote on her and I am very blessed to have both of these things. Here's her in the car seat for her first car ride:

Ashlyn's Story

Due to my increased risk for another placental abruption, we scheduled a c-section for Ashlyn to come at my 38th week. The surgery was originally scheduled at noon on Friday, but was rescheduled for 11 am without my knowledge. I found out about it two days beforehand at my pre-op appointment. I couldn't sleep much the night before and neither could Shiloh. I guess we were too anxious and excited. I was up at 5 am that morning, which was very fortunate because at 6:30 AM I got a call from the hospital wondering if I knew that my surgery was scheduled for 7:30!! They weren't really all that surprised that it was news to me, but just asked me to come as quick as I could. So we rushed to the hospital and got the "speed" version of pre-operative care. I am actually so glad it turned out that way because I hate waiting. I wasn't nervous or scared at all until the moment right before they stuck my back with the spinal block. I have had 3 of these now and it is a little nerve-racking each time. The local anesthetic hurts more than the spinal block and it was the most pain I felt the entire time! It didn't help that the surgery room was extremely cold and Shiloh wasn't allowed in the room until I was in position for the surgery. I closed my eyes and took deep breathes and said a silent prayer. It was over before I knew it and they laid me down and my whole lower half got that warm, numb feeling. In fact, that warm, numb feeling was extremely soothing. Shiloh came in and took some pictures and held my hand while they did surgery. I had no clue (except for the smell of burning flesh) that they had even made the incision with the laser. And within seconds I heard the most beautiful sound: a baby cry. She was crying even before she was all the way out of me! I got a little choked up hearing her and they showed her to me right away in her birthing goop and all. Then they cleaned her up and let me spend some moments with her while the doctor sewed my insides and stapled my outsides. Ashlyn spend about an hour and a half in the post-operative transition room while they made sure her breathing was good and she was perfect and healthy. I spent that time nearly sleeping as my spinal block gradually wore off. After that, I spent the full 4 days in the hospital with my perfect little baby. The nurses were all very helpful and I felt like I got a lot more rest and relaxation there than I would have at home (and now that I am home I KNOW that that is true...). My mother is here from Thatcher to take care of the other two and has been here all week bless her heart! My mother in law comes next week to help thank goodness! Even after a week I am incredibly sore. I am off the pain meds thankfully but its all I can do to stay standing or go up the stairs. Even laughing hurts my incision. Ashlyn has proven to be a very tame and very lovable child. She sleeps nearly all the time and eats like clockwork every 3 hours. Although, I am extremely proud of her because last night she went a 4-hour stretch! Yay! I am hoping she will be sleeping through the night by 2 months like my other two kids. :) One can only hope right? Here's the story in pictures...

Ashlyn Emma Lundahl

Yes, we had our baby one week ago, and yes I haven't posted a single picture. I will be doing so as soon as I can get around to it. :) But, just wanted to post that she's here and beautiful with no complications whatsoever! Yay! She weighed 7 lbs even and 19 1/2" long. She has blue eyes and brown hair like the rest of our kids and looks like the other two as well. :) I guess Shiloh and I make pretty homogenous children. Hee, hee!