Stella!

Well, my last post turned out to be timely since a few hours later we headed to the hospital.  KLC went into labor that night and gave birth via C-section to our latest addition around 3am on December 23rd. Stella Malinda arrived weighing in at a healthy 8lbs 5oz.

Even though KLC had the 2nd C-section she was trying to avoid, we got clearance to leave the hospital on Christmas Eve because both she and Stella were doing so well.  It was great to be able to wake up Christmas morning with all of the kids who were excited to welcome their new baby sister.

We had a bit of a hiccup over the weekend when KLC felt unexpectedly worse, which warranted a trip to the ER and being readmitted to the hospital to deal with some fluid around the incision and an infection.  The good news is that we live in a society with antibiotics so she's doing much better and will hopefully feel better every day from here on out.

A quick note about the name.  No, it's not a reference to "A Street Car Named Desire".  Stella was KLC's great aunt and her mother's middle name was "Malinda" and "Linda" is my mom's name so it seemed perfect. Stella is a champion nurser and isn't as serious as she looks in this picture, but it gives you an idea of how beautiful our new little one is.  We can't wait to settled at home with her and the other kids.  I couldn't think of a better way to kick off 2014.

 

Due Date

It's been over a month since I've posted anything, but it's hardly for a lack of activity.  In fact, it's been just the opposite.  We've been neck deep in house renovations (the new one, not the old one), school activities, work, and, of course, getting ready for the arrival of baby #4.

Today is KLC's official due date.  There have been some signs that labor will start soon, but as of this morning we're still at the house with the three (current) kids, making waffles and heading out for a trip to the zoo.

Thankfully, KLC has been better about keeping up with her blog this holiday season.  You can see some pics of recent activities and festivities here and here.  What the exact time line is for upcoming events, we know we'll have a very busy and exciting Christmas around here and I'll do my best to keep up with the news on the blog.

The Macarena

For those of you who thought the Macarena was just a bad dance dream from the '90s, I'm here to tell you differently.  It's alive and well and apparently being taught in P.E. classes in NE Seattle.  If you don't believe this good news, take a look at what the twins can do.  We are so keeping this to embarrass them with watch when they are older.  http://youtu.be/BgBBKTQLHks

Intensity Face

Before we get to the title of this post, I need to do some catching up on the past couple of weeks.  First off, we had a very fun Halloween around here.  The twins got to go to a school party, go to a Halloween party at taekwondo, and then hit the streets for trick-or-treating.  They managed to get a haul, but since one twin doesn't even like candy (except to sort, trade, and play with) we gave a vast majority of it away.  Not before I secured a handful of Reese's peanut butter cups for myself ...

Here's a pic of the crew.  Iver was 'dressed' as a pumpkin, but A & J really stole the show with their wizard and robot costumes:

(Despite his expression in this photo, Iver thought it was great that his brother and sister were in costume.  He knew exactly who they were under there.)

This brings me to the unrelated, but worth noting, phenomenon with Iver that we call "Intensity Face."  What is this, you may ask?  Well, it's something that started happening a couple of weeks ago primarily at the breakfast table.  We'd all be sitting there and occasionally Iver would do this thing where he'd open his mouth and shake his head a little while looking at all of us.  Then he'd start laughing.  Then we'd start laughing.  Now, it's at the point where he'll do this to us to get us to laugh.  Or, if we want to make him laugh, we do it first and then he'll do his own version and then start laughing.  It's hard to describe and this video isn't the finest example, but it gives a little glimpse into how Iver's personality is developing at this stage (that is, being a complete ham at times).  Take a look: http://youtu.be/4oqbq4WYchI and http://youtu.be/-f9dtl6Hs3c

Iverese

There's been a lot going on with us these days -- between school, work, pregnancy, owning two houses (and trying to organize work being done on one while contemplating selling the other within a handful of months) -- we're basically at maximum capacity around here.

That said, I'm trying to document what I can.  Right now, Iver is in the midst of "talking" all of the time.  I call this "Iverese" because it is uniquely his language.  He'll talk like this when you're changing his diaper, when he's going to bed, when he's in high chair -- basically all of the time.  It's hard to capture it on video because he wants to touch my phone as soon as I take it out and point it at him.  That said, this little clip (http://youtu.be/cctBbArlKXM) will hopefully give a glimpse at our budding linguist.

My Parent-of-the-Year Moment

If you take a look at this picture, you'll see how sarcastic I was being with the title of this post.  This was definitely not my finest day as a parent.

KLC and I went to an appliance showroom to finalize our decisions of a refrigerator, dishwasher, range, etc for the new kitchen.  We were trying to do this relatively quickly since our architect needed the exact specs to put into the design, and we're anxious to get moving on this so we can get going with a contractor.  Iver was being a good sport about the whole thing about looking at lots of stainless steel things that were not toys, but then got fidgety.  I decided to let him move around on their carpet for a little ...

This is where I should have noticed that they had samples for granite countertops about a foot off of the ground.  This is also where I should have noticed that the samples were not attached to the wall.  Needless to say, Iver motored over to the closest one and pulled it off.  Even though I was about a foot and a half away, I wasn't quick enough to stop what felt like happened in slow motion.

The piece of jagged granite (yes, it wasn't even a smooth piece of rock) fell toward his eye.  We were so extremely lucky that it just grazed the area outside of the eye and didn't touch the eye ball.  KLC were able to get him into his doctor's office right away to confirm that everything was OK.  I'm still having bad daydreams imagining what could have happened.  The good news is that Iver seems totally fine after the experience while KLC and I are the ones apparently more traumatized.

(PS If you come to visit and see Iver wearing a ski helmet and goggles 24/7, you'll know why.)

A Fall of Firsts

In the past week or so, we've had a lot of "firsts" around here.  To begin with, the twins had their first day of school, entering first grade (see KLC's blog for pics: http://hootnhowl.blogspot.com/2013/09/first-graders.html). On her post, you'll also notice that we also had the first visit from the Tooth Fairy to the family, whose going rate is $1 a tooth, by the way.

And, just this past weekend, we got to celebrate Iver's first birthday.  It's hard to imagine that it has been a full year since the little pumpkin came into our lives.  I managed not to get any good pics from the party where Iver got his first taste of cake and ice cream, but I think we'll be able to find something decent to post from the day.

Up next?  Our first double mortgage!  OK, that's not really the news.  Our next big thing is that we're closing on a new house next week.  It's not too far from where we live now, but it's slightly bigger and on a quiet street.  It's a mid-century modern house in great condition.  KLC and I got to meet the owner and his daughter accidentally when we went to look at the house (it's a long story but basically we thought there was an open house, but there wasn't.)

After looking at many houses over the past several months, there was something about this one that just clicked for us.  The owner has been there for the past 50 years -- yes, you read that right -- and it is a truly loved family home.  (As an example of how meticulous they kept the house, the dishwasher from 1972 in the kitchen still works.  I'm happy any time I can be introduced to a working appliance that is older than me.)

Alas, the dishwasher and the rest of the kitchen need some updating, obviously, so we will be embarking on our first renovation.  Unlike other handier members of my family, we won't be doing any of the work ourselves.  Rather we have hired an architect and will be getting a general contractor to do everything we can afford want done before we move in.  So even though we will close on the house in just a few days, we'll be staying in our current one probably through January and then putting this one up on the market.  The housing market in our part of the Seattle has been really good lately for sellers, so we're knocking on wood that this keeps up through the spring!