Sun bathing beauty

On Wednesday morning, my nurse came into my room to let me know Kendall's bilirubin level was 6.2, so she was placed under phototherapy in the nursery.

My sunbathing beauty was so relaxed even under the light-she's such a good girl :)  The day shift nurse was nice enough to move my beautiful girl into my room so at least I could be "with" her.  Mommy could also feed her and maybe play just a bit of dress up :)

She looks just like Colson here!

Oh my, poor girl has a mullet!

 We had lots of visitors on Wednesday!  First was Uncle Adam, he had worked the night before and still came up to meet baby Kendall.

Then Laura stopped by with Sienna and Lawson.  Kristin came about the same time too.  Unfortunately, Kendall was under the lights most of the time, but she did come out briefly to eat and visit.

Aunt Kelly came up next...and brought us Avanti's gondolas for lunch :)

After Aunt Kelly left, we had a break in visitors and we just relaxed with our new girl.  She had a bilirubin level drawn and it was stable so we got to take her out from under the lights :)

Kendall in her very 1st outfit

After school, Nana and Papa brought up Alyvia and Colson to actually meet their baby sister.  Alyvia was so happy.  She kept telling me she loved Kendall's name and Kendall was so adorable!

Alyvia picked out a gift for baby Kendall

Kendall & Alyvia with their matching monkeys

Sister love

Big brother was actually excited to meet Kendall too!

Nana & Kendall

Papa & Kendall

Awww, Big brother loves baby sister

And he loves brownies!

Big Sis wanted me to change Kendall into her matching shirt :)

My girls

Our family of 5!!

 

Aunt Anne, Un Cha, Finn and Lindsey came back to meet baby Kendall too!

Lindsey & Kendall

Finnegan meets Kendall...and wants to eat her headband!

"Crazy" Aunt Anne (as she calls herself!)

Un Cha & Kendall

After they left, Stephanie stopped by to meet Kendall, I didn't get a picture though!  While she was there, Aunt Cheryl, Reagan and Rylie came to the hospital to see Kendall too!

 

There are so many people who are excited about Kendall's arrival and we feel so lucky to have so much love surrounding this baby girl <3.  Every baby should be so lucky!

Alan picked the kids up from my parents that night so they could spend the night at home.  We were hoping when he came back up Thursday, both Kendall and I would be able to go home!

Kendall Ashway Cowser

Kendall Ashway Cowser was born on November 6, 2012 at 18:23.  She weighed in at 6 lbs. 13.6 oz. and was 18.5 inches long.

This might be boring for the 4 people that read my blog, but I want to remember so here's a recap of the day.  I got up at 4:00 to get ready to be at the hospital at 6.  I called at 5:00 to make sure that they had bed space for me and....they didn't!  So, a small set back.  I still left home and went to my mom and dad's and hung out with my mom for a bit.  The L & D nurse called me at 6:30 and told me to go ahead and come in, they were ready now.  My mom and I got there around 7 and we finally (slowly) got things going.  Alan got to the hospital around 8:30 after dropping Alyvia off at school.  We were still waiting on doctors orders to start the induction.  Finally around 10:30, the pitocin was started.  My contractions actually started right away!  Dr. B came in to check on me around noon.  I was only 3 cm, but she was able to break my water.  I got my epidural close to 1 pm and then we waited for things to pick up.  I was contracting every 3 minutes and on the monitor the contractions looked strong, but I couldn't feel a thing from my stomach down!  At 4 pm, my new nurse came into check me and I was still only 3 cm dilated :(  We were disappointed and assumed we were in for another long labor (like Colson!).  Kristin came up for a visit and my epidural started to wear off while she was there.  We had my parents bring the kids up for a visit too since we assumed baby girl wasn't going to make her appearance until late in the night.  Alan walked the kids out with my parents around 5:15 and Dr. L stopped by to see if we were making any progress.  I was 8 cm and he thought things were probably going to move fast!!!  I called Alan and told him to get back upstairs quickly :)  I started pushing a little after 6 pm, pushed through 3 contractions and Miss Kendall made her appearance at 18:23.  She came out crying, declaring herself healthy and mad at being born! 

After spending a little time with Mommy and Daddy, Alan's parents were the first to meet our Kendall.

Next Chris, Anne, Finnegan & Lindsey came to meet her.  It was time for Kendall to go to the nursery though.  Nana and Papa brought Alyvia & Colson back to the hospital to meet baby sister too.  Alyvia apparently was almost demanding to be brought up!

Colson sees Kendall for the first time...he was really hollering for Daddy :)

Alyvia "meets" Kendall

Daddy feeds Kendall her 1st bottle

Unfortunately, Kendall had to stay in the nursery to warm up and it got late so everyone left before they got a chance to actually meet her. 

Big Sis and Big Bro hanging out in Mom's room.  Colson pretty much only cared about Daddy at this point!

After the crowd left, Alan went and got us some food (McDonald's for me!) and then we hung out with little Kendall for a bit. 

I sent Alan home for the night.  I was in a double room and I was afraid that I would get a roommate (I didn't though!) and he would have to leave anyway.  He planned to take Alyvia to school the next morning and then come hang out with us girls at the hospital.

We are so excited that Kendall is here!  I can't wait to see how she fits into our family.  I love having this little girl already!

Twas The Night Before....Induction

November 6, 2012-hopefully our new baby girl's birthday.  If she follows in her brother's footsteps, it will be November 8th....I'd like to avoid that :)  I am so excited to meet this baby!  In some ways, this pregnancy has gone sooo fast.  So cliche, but I am so busy with Alyvia and Colson that I haven't had a ton of time to focus on the wait for our newest little girl.  But then I think about how we've known this baby was coming since early March and it feels like FOREVER!  It seems crazy that it could be "over" in 24 hours, or just beginning depending on how you look at it :)  Our bags are packed, her big sister and big brother are set, we have as many "plans" as we could have for the possibilities-yet it still seems surreal.  I want so badly to meet her, see who she is........and then I want time to stop, just stand still so we can soak it all in.  I want these 12 weeks off with my babies to crawl by ever so slowly.  I know they won't, but it's what I want.  It won't be perfect, don't get me wrong I have no delusions of grandeur.  But, I want to be home with my little family and all of our imperfectness :)
Baby girl, we love you so much already.  When you make your appearance I just want you to be healthy, so take your time if you must.  Just know that your mommy, daddy, big sister and even your big brother are super excited to meet you and we might seem a little impatient tomorrow :)

Happy Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween from the Cowser kids!

Alyvia is such a "poser"!

After we picked up Alyvia from school, we came home and carved our pumpkins....well, Livi and I did, Colson just "pay outsi" :) 

We waited for our friends Kristin and Lizzie to come over and we went trick or treating around Princeville.  It's so much more fun to go with friends!

Our butterfly princess & pirate Cole

Ready to go!

Colson wasn't so sure about dressing up, but he was so excited once he got out there!  The firetruck was driving around town handing out candy and it stopped in front of our house.  Colson was running out the door, saying "me who, me who, me who!"  He LOVES firetrucks and they were handing out candy too, double bonus!  He really got into the trick or treating this year :)  The girls were on the move from the word go-we had to keep reminding them to slow down and wait for the moms!

He tried so hard to keep up!

Getting balloons from the scary halloween house in town!

Ahhhh-scary spider (and scary Lizzie with glowing eyes!)

Colson lost steam about 2/3 of the way through.  He just cruised in the stroller the rest of the way home :)

The kids had a really fun night and we were so happy Kristin and Lizzie joined us again this year!  Happy Halloween!

Weekend in recap

We had a very busy weekend!  Saturday morning Alyvia and I went to the NICU Small Wonders Walk.  It's a walk to celebrate all the miracle babies from the NICU and a fundraiser sponsored by the parent committee.  It was the 6th annual walk, but the first time I was able to attend.  What a fun event to be a part of though!  It was great to see some of the families that I took care of and how amazing their kids are doing!  The event is really geared towards the kids and Alyvia had fun too!  Face painting, glitter tattoos, balloon animals and Julie K music-oh my!

Saturday night we went over to Caroline's house to meet up with my friends from college.  It tends to be a different kind of crazy when we all get together now....our kids are the wild ones!  The girls and boys are all about the same age and it tends to get a bit rowdy at times :)

Colson, Nolan & Austen....sometimes sharing is hard!

It was too crazy for Cole to be a part of!

We did manage to get a picture of the BU girls...but not without tears from the little boys that they couldn't be a part of it too!

Maybe next time we get together, we can have just a big girls night.......maybe in 10-15 years!

Today Anne hosted a "sprinkle" for new baby girl!  She decorated so cute with the "sprinkle" theme everywhere :)  Sprinkle donuts, sprinkle cookies, ice cream with sprinkles, sprinkle favors-loved it!

Alyvia dressed up and ready for baby sister's shower!

Look at all the diapers and wipes we got!

It is so exciting to celebrate baby girls impending arrival, she is coming very soon!  We can't wait!

Apple Orchard & Farming with Daddy

After we picked Alyvia up from school today, we headed out to Tanner's Apple Orchard!  We started off in the store and sampled some yummy apple cider!

Then we ate some apple cider donuts too!

We took our purchases to the car and then we walked around outside and played for a bit.

We had a fun time and then we headed up to Bradford to see daddy for awhile.  We miss daddy so much when he's gone farming all week :(   The kids were super excited to see him!

Colson and I took a ride in the combine with Papaw while Daddy and Alyvia hauled a load of corn in the semi.  The kids and I headed home after our ride-a-longs and had pizza for dinner.  We had a fun afternoon and we can't wait until Daddy home with us more often!

Wonderful Waffels!

This kid

loves his waffles!  EVERY single morning, he asks for his "wa".  Hey, at least he's eating something :)