Drum Roll Please...

I'm baa-aackk!!!  I know, I've been gone far too long, and have a lot of catching up to do, but first I have to reveal to you our Christmas card for this year (not yet...see below).  First of all, have any of you ever made your Christmas cards through Shutterfly?  I am HUGE fan.  I have made photo gifts like this neat desk calendar...

They make great and affordable gifts that last an entire year.  Shutterfly makes creating photo gifts as easy as pie- seriously mom and dad, you could even do this!  If you want to create a masterpiece like this one click here.

Shutterfly also has quality photo invitations to choose from.  I love adding pictures to birthday invitations, suddenly the invitation becomes something that you will keep forever rather than just pitch in the garbage after the party is over.  One of my favorite invitations from their site is this one:

As you all know, we take pictures of our kids each month, so an invitation like this is perfect for us.  I can't wait until Alanna's first birthday so that I can pick out her first invites from Shutterfly Cards & Stationery.

I know, I can feel the tension growing, you are waiting to see our Christmas card, right?? :)  I am so excited because Shutterfly has a deal going right now for bloggers...if we share what we love about their products, we get 50 free Christmas cards.  That is a great deal!  To all of my blogging friends, here is the link to be able to get this deal too: http://bit.ly/sfly2010


I had a terrible time picking what one we should use.  There were so many adorable Christmas photo cards to choose from.  Here is a link to get you to all of them, but my top three were:

Click here to create this one called "With Love"

Click here to create this one called "Starlight Snowflake"

and

Click here to create this one called "Family Wall"

Which one did we choose? 

I think you are going to have to wait until closer to Christmas to find out.  I know, that was really mean wasn't it, but to give you a little taste, here are some pictures that I had to choose from for the card:

Aren't our kids adorable? :)

Merry Christmas everyone.  I'll put the Christmas card on here soon...but not quite yet, I want to get them sent out first.  I'm hoping to be around more often too...pretty sure I won't ever get caught up on the blog, but we will see.  I'm finally done with school again, so I am predicting a little more free time in my future! :)

Alanna is 2 Months Old!

Alanna had brought joy to our lives for 2 months now.  She started smiling just after turning 5 weeks old and hasn't stopped since. 


Don't you just love the curl on top of her head?!  She has a nice thick streak of hair down the center.

 Here is one of her REALLY BIG smiles.  I haven't been able to catch her in a picture just smiling without the freaking out style of smile seen here:)  As you can see her stork bites have already started to fade a little bit.  They get nice and red though when she is upset.

At 2 months old Alanna was still nursing 10 or 11 times per day.  She gives us a 5-6 hour stretch between feedings at night.  Alanna continues to sleep in between each feeding during the day and isn't on a schedule yet.  The most that she can stay up at a time without starting to get tired is a half an hour.  She has a very fussy period that starts like clockwork around 6 pm each night. 

Alanna is 1 Month Old!

Alanna turned 1 month old on August 30th!  Just like her shirt says, she truly is one of a kind, but she is also a lot like her brothers! :)  I am learning more and more about her each day and I can't get over how she looks so much like Bennett, but acts so much like Ethan.  Ethan loved having his bottom patted to be soothed, so does Alanna.  Ethan hated a pacifier, so does Alanna.  Ethan cried a lot in the evenings...so does Alanna! :)  We are pooped, let me tell ya. 

Alanna's Birth

On the evening of Thursday, July 29th, I started having fairly regular contractions. However, they were easy to talk through, weren't really getting any stronger, and by the time I had taken a shower before bed, they had subsided. Great, I thought, I will get to go back to my class tomorrow! At 2:30 in the morning, I woke up feeling like I had peed myself...sorry, too much information, I'm sure! With the other 2 boys I had never had my water break on its own, the doctor had always broken it for me, so this was a new, and very strange experience.

We got up and called the hospital right away. They questioned whether or not it was my waters...not sure why, I don't regularly pee myself, but anyway, we headed to the hospital after taking the boys to Leia and Ryan's house.


Here I am, nervously waiting....

After 2 hours of walking the Labor and Delivery floor in the middle of the night, my contractions were actually subsiding again! I felt ridiculous. If my water hadn't had broken, I would still be home waiting for the contractions to get more strong. I think that I was only dialated to 1 cm.

Finally, Dr. Hintz started pitocin and that's when things started happening. Slow at first, and then very, very suddenly!! I swear it took me FOREVER to reach 3 cm, but then I think I went from 3 cm to 9 in only a couple of contractions. I got an epidural, which only numbed my left leg and by the time the anesthesiologist tried to fix his mistake, I was ready to push. Dr. Hintz was doing a D & C procedure...I heard him tell the nurse that he would be done in 10 minutes and he would be back. Ha! He almost missed my delivery! Adam and the nurses were actually trying to get me to NOT push....seriously, NOT push??? Come on people, there isn't any way you can NOT push.

And here is the result, I'm finally writing about it:) Alanna Rae Thilges was born on July 30, 2010 at 1:20pm, 5 pounds 15 ounces, 19 inches long. What a dolly! :) She wasn't due until August 18th, but I would going to be induced on August 5th.

Her face was covered in angel kisses, or stork bites as others would call them. Adam said she looked like Wolverine. Nice daddy. They have already faded quite a bit.

Aunt Kate with cousins Gabbie and Paxton.

Aunt Jamie.

Big Brother Bennett.

Big Brother Ethan.

Leia and Ryan's daughters, Delphina and Arabella.

Aunt Brooke.

A proud daddy and his little girl.

Nana Thilges.

I can't believe I have a beautiful daughter to love. How blessed can I get??!! Thank you God, allow Adam and I to raise her to know how fearfully and wonderfully made she is. She is a gift from you.

Ethan's 4 Year Old Pictures

Ethan's 4 year pics are ready. Adam said he had a difficult time warming up (it took around a half an hour), but once he got started he did great! He has started to stick his tongue out when he is nervous, so they had to remind him to keep it in every once in awhile.

Ethan looks like a young boy now, not my little baby!

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Password: Thilges

35 Weeks Along!

I had a doctor's appointment today, no ultrasound, but I will add picks of my belly later.

Alanna is now lying transverse (sideways) in my uterus. I said to Dr. Hintz, "Oh good, this means that she is just slowly making her way head down because last time she was breech!" Dr. Hintz sarcastically just told me that I can think what I want, but now that she is transverse it will just be easier to turn her later! Due to her sideways position, I am not measuring correctly, but how could I be, right?

Her heart rate was 152 and my level of antibodies due to the Rh sensitization remained at 1:2, no change, which is great news!!

Dr. Hintz moved my ultrasound up a week (7/22) and said that he will also check my cervix again next week...he typically does not do this (he thinks it is pretty pointless), but he is going to make sure I am still not dialating at all since he will probably have to turn her head down eventually.

Please pray that she turns head down. I'm scared of the pain of him turning her again! Would I rather have a c-section, no, but it just REALLY HURTS!

4th of July Weekend

We had a great 4th of July weekend up at the river...well, we left on the 3rd, but still had a great time with family. The boys LOVE being out on the boat with Grandma and Grandpa. They were hanging over the edge to feel the cool water on their hands almost the entire time. Bennett wanted to dive in I think!

I think that one of my favorite things to do is be on the river, just be out on the water. It is so beautiful. I don't need to be doing anything at all except looking at nature...and it makes it extra special when I get to be with family.

Bennett saw a boat!

Fishin'

Kez looks like she is about to dive in!

33 Weeks and Ultrasound

Yesterday started my 33rd week of pregnancy with Alanna. We celebrated with another ultrasound. :)

Now that I have also been Rh sensitized, which means I am building antibodies against the pregnancy due to Alanna's blood being a positive type and my blood being a negative type and somehow they came in contact with each other, Dr. Hintz is examining the blood flow in Alanna's brain more closely to watch for anemia. It is extremely rare for this to happen randomly in a pregnancy without having experienced bleeding, and the majority of women with a negative blood type recieve RhoGAM around 28 weeks to prevent this from happening. I have officially decided that if there is a statistic, a percentage, a probability...Adam and I will break it!

Anyway, so far so good, the blood flow in her brain is as it should be. Her limbs are now measuring 7 weeks behind and her heart looks the same as it did the last time. Alanna had the hiccups for a good portion of the ultrasound so it was difficult for Dr. Hintz to look at her heart. He is not concerned at this time but will check again.

Alanna is breech right now, so we will have another ultrasound at the end of this month to see if she has turned head down. Dr. Hintz turned her (OUCH!) but by the time I got home she had turned back again. I have her head in my lungs! He will try and turn her again at 37 weeks if needed, otherwise I will need to have a c-section. I am praying that she does the right thing- make a good choice Alanna! ;)

Now for the important part, pictures!

Look at her big, pouty bottom lip. She is so beautiful, I'm getting so excited to meet her.

The umbilical cord is covering her lips in this picture and her hand is up by her face too:

I have gain 19 pounds so far, almost double what I did with Benne over his entire pregnancy, we are doing great! Well, everything I eat gives me heartburn, but hey, at least I'm able to eat!!

Okay, this is a first for me...I am going to show you my bare belly. CAUTION: You may want to put on some sunglasses at this point in the post as it is blindingly white:

Thank you for continuing to pray for Alanna. I can't wait to meet this precious gift that God has created.

Summer Days...

For my birthday weekend we went to Des Moines to the Blank Park Zoo. It was a lot of fun! Ethan's favorite animal to see was probably the lions, although he wouldn't allow himself to stop and watch any of the animals long enough because he was so excited. Bennett's favorite animal was the monkeys. He, on the other hand, could have stayed and watched them play for hours.

It was a beautiful day to be at the zoo. Perfect weather. I'm pretty sure that Bennett would have walked the entire time if we would have let him...he was SO TIRED by the time we were done. The boys also really liked the petting zoo that they had. Of course, mom and dad didn't bring ANY CHANGE to get food for the goats, so we just had to watch the other kids feed the animals grain. Great parents, huh?!

Yesterday we went to the library to make bubble wands and sign up for the summer reading program. After that I had a picnic down by the river with two Burger Kings...

Enjoying the beautiful weather. Bennett loves the bubble mower!

Ready, set, mow!

How adorable is he?!!! Seriously, I have really cute kids!

Ethan looks so grown up here.

The new tent and play tube is a hit!

Ethan's favorite way to spend his time.

So cool.

We got a new bike for Ethan for the summer. He had bruises on his knees from where he hit the handle bar on each crank of the pedal from his little Radio Flyer one, so we thought it was time!:) We measured him this week and he is 42.5 inches tall!

Since getting his bike he has had one "good tumble" down the hill at Fontana Park, and since then he has been worried about riding his bike at all. I am happy to report that tonight we had a successful ride!!! He was scared to go down the driveway hill, but did great after that. :) Ethan is such a sensitive boy...I worry about it sometimes, how can I help him feel more self-confident?! Look at him! What a sweetie...