She's Here!!

Meet Kensi Michelle Jovle. Born Monday January 21, 2013 at 2:08 pm. Big girl weighing 8 pounds 14 ounces and 20.5 inches with very long fingers and toes and short blonde hair. She's beautiful and perfect. 

It's been a whirlwind of a week. We went in Monday morning early for an induction. Sienna was sent to Bita's for the day, so my parents could come be at Abbott when Kensi was born. Labor went awesome. I couldn't have asked for anything better. The staff at Abbott was amazing and really made it a great experience. If you want the detailed labor experience I will gladly tell it to you but not going to post it all here. In summary, pushing out an almost 9 lb kid takes a little more effort than a hardly 7 lb one but even so, it went quick. 

Mom and Ron brought Sienna up to the hospital that night. She was very excited to see us and meet her little sister. I thought she might be scared or weirded out by the hospital, but she wasn't at all. Climbed right up on my bed to meet her sister. Because of all the stuff with the flu going on, they had visitor restrictions. Kids from 2-13 were only able to visit once and for 15 minutes. They didn't strictly enforce it, but Sienna was only able to stay for a short period of time. 

We did have time for a quick cheers with champagne or juice. 

That night Justin and I hardly slept. Kensi was up a lot and when she wasn't, there was still a lot of commotion including the helipad nearby. We were eager to get home. The hospital released us 24 hours from Kensi's birth after she had passed all of her tests. 

The 2nd night at home didn't go much better. Kensi was again up for most of it. Justin and I took shifts, but it was still a very long night. The next morning Mom and Ron brought Sienna back home. Even being exhausted it was good to have us all together. Sienna is very sweet with her sister and loves giving her kisses on her head. 

Luckily for all of us Kensi got some milk in her belly that day and slept awesome that night. She is showing signs of being like her big sister who is also a great sleeper and has been from the beginning. I am crossing my fingers it continues! The rest of the week has been good. Kensi is a happy baby so far and so darn cute. Sienna is a proud big sister, but also starting to be jealous and already wants Mommy every time I am feeding Kensi. I'm sure it'll be an interesting weekend. 

Lastly - who do you think she looks like? I can't tell yet, but I am thinking she's more Jovle than Staubus-Rost. She is definitely different from Sienna as a baby! 

2 1/2 years

Sienna,

2.5 years old. You continue to amaze me as what you can do and understand at such a young age. It's probably always like this but I will never stop being in awe. You have the biggest heart and show your love for everyone. Your favorite expression right now is sincerely telling people, "You're so nice." Or if we are talking about someone you will say, "He/She is so nice." You are starting to grasp the concepts of right/wrong and good/bad. You know if someone is not nice, then they are mean. You also know that hate and stupid are bad words which we don't say - and remind your Daddy about it every time he does. :)

You are still all about being a big girl. If I forget and call you my baby you set me straight saying, "No Mommy! I'm a big gee-aaalll" (that's a southern accent you picked up somewhere) You are wearing pull-ups pretty much full time now at home and underwear at daycare which makes you so proud. We are still a ways away from really getting potty training, but it's a definite start.

In addition to being a sweetheart you are also so smart. Daddy taught you right vs left and you picked it up right away. He's also been working on reading your clock to you. Every morning you wake up so excited to read the time. You also have your Mommy's love for puzzles and with help, love putting together the 24 piece ones. Your memory is also amazing. Gone are the days when we could tell you something to appease you for the moment. If we say it, you hold us to it!

The girly girl in you is coming out as you love combing hair, pretend putting on lipstick, getting dressed up in your princess clothes, and putting on all the jewelry. You get very excited when you get to wear a dress and have to be bribed to wear jeans. Dance class and going swimming with Daddy are 2 of your favorite activities. You talk about dance class all week long and will show anyone your dance or the moves that you have learned. One day at the pool you decided on your own it was time to start wearing the floatys. You walked right up to the bin, told Daddy you wanted to wear them, and marched into the water to start swimming.

Helping Mommy & Daddy bake or cook makes you so happy. Whenever we are in the kitchen you run in and want to sit on the stools and help or watch.

You are becoming such an independent girl. Pretty soon you will be a big sister and I can't wait to see you take on that role too. We love you so much Sienna!

2013 Resolutions

Seems like it's become a tradition now that I make and post my resolutions for the year. I went back and looked at my 2012 resolutions. I'm not sure how well I did on them. My first one was to do more strength training, which I did very good until I got pregnant. I completely forgot about trying to eat meatless one day a week. Oops! Plus being pregnant I needed a lot more protein so I think that didn't help. I'm going to say that one was a fail. I did learn a lot about my camera though. There still is much more to learn, but I got some great shots and realized which lens I need to buy to fully accomplish what I want. I also realized how important photo editing is and what a difference that can make.

On to 2013!

1. Seeing as there are BIG changes coming to my family in a few days (induction on Monday!), my first resolution is to survive (first), adjust (second), and then enjoy being a family of 4. I have no idea what this will all entail but I'm very excited to be figuring it out.

2. Jumping back to the get in shape bandwagon. I've heard it's a lot harder to lose the weight after the 2nd kid, so my goal is to get as close as I can to where I was a year ago...while still juggling a new baby. I'm giving myself the year to do it cause I know it will take awhile. I also need to eat better. Christmas cookies need to go so I can stop bingeing on them.

3. I'm going to piggy back on my camera one from last year. This year I'd like to buy and master my new lens, plus also work more in Photoshop with editing techniques. These girls are only little for so long and I want to capture as much as I can.

That's it! and I think that's enough. #1 in itself is probably enough...Wish me luck.

New Years Eve 2012

Despite being 37 weeks pregnant, I wanted to do something fun for New Years Eve. We invited the Eids and Moehrings over to our house for a kid friendly night - including a sleepover! Since we wanted some adult time for playing games, we had the kids celebrate an early countdown at 7 and then put a movie in. 

Mallory, being the oldest, helped everyone count back from 20 (while watching a youtube video of last years ball drop). The kids each had a glass of bubbly apple cider, tiaras, lays, and blowers. 

Happy New Year!! Sienna was determined to get her blower to work but couldn't quite figure it out. Can't say I was too upset about that. A few minutes after the kids had celebrated, we found a yellow liquid on the floor. We assumed one of them had spilled their bubbly in all the excitement, but as Cran mopped it up she felt it was warm...ewwwww. After checking all the kids pants, we are blaming Conner who quickly darted in and out of the room during the celebration. 

All in jammies watching a movie with their popcorn.

After the movie was finished, we attempted to put all the older kids to bed in Sienna's room. She was up in her bed and 3 sleeping bags were laid out on the floor. For their first sleepover it went pretty well. After we tucked them in, the room was quiet for a couple minutes but soon it was filled with girly giggles and squeals. I think we all had forward flashes to them as teenagers. It took going up there a few times and finally moving Mikayla to her own room until they all fell asleep.   

The adults had a fun night too. The competition was intense between guys vs girls. After a big butt kicking game of Pictonary, the woman were nice enough to let the guys win the rest of the night. I even took pictures of the adults too! I can't say we made it until midnight, but we were close. Brent had to work early the next morning so we celebrated with New York at 11. 

The next morning Sienna woke up excited to see her friends and to her dismay they were all gone!! Ellie went home the night before while she was sleeping and Mallory snuck out of the room before she woke up. After surveying her room. she started sobbing that she missed her friends. So cute, yet so sad. Luckily Mikayla and Mallory were just downstairs waiting for her to wake up. All was well once they were reunited.

New Floors

Justin and I have been wanting our floors refinished for awhile. The goal was to get it done before this baby came. Originally we thought Justin would do them but time was running out and we had to hire it done (so glad we did). Sienna and I were shipped off to my mom's house for 3 nights and Justin, Conner, and Zoey lived out of our basement. The floors turned out beautiful. They are even darker than the pictures show them to be. It completely changed the look of our house but I love it!

Christmas

How do I even capture all the magic and memories from this Christmas? This was Sienna's first year really getting it and she was so excited for every single piece. Christmas Eve started by pouring our jar of reindeer food from the north pole party and leaving cookies out for Santa. Sienna made all the cookies herself (with Dad's help) and was very proud to pick out the ones Santa would like - the doggy bone shape was the favorite.

We headed to Grammy's house to celebrate Christmas Eve with my Mom's side of the family. Sienna wore her new sparkly dress and kept saying how she looked like a princess.

The evening started with drinks and appetizers.

These 2 are just too cute!

After eating we headed to the basement for presents. Sienna and Ariana helped distribute the gifts to everyone and were very patient in waiting for their turn to open their presents. 

Christmas morning quickly came. Sienna actually slept in. I figured she'd be up early in anticipation of Santa, but she still likes her sleep. It was adorable to watch her peak through the stair railings, see that Santa had filled our stockings, and watch her get more and more excited with every step. Santa fulfilled his promise and brought her a Cinderella Barbie. 

Since all of Sienna's gifts were little, we went a bit overboard with the gifts. I didn't realize it until I saw the big stack. We actually had issues with getting her to open them all. After one was open, she'd just want to play with it instead of opening the next. It took most of the morning to finish opening all of her gifts. Such a spoiled girl!

Christmas afternoon we headed to my parents house. More food and drinks and presents. It was a fun afternoon and evening.

Sienna and Ariana both got tutus from Nana and Grandpa. The girls put them on and for some reason Ariana started belly bumping Sienna. Sienna wasn't sure what to think of it at first, but then it turned into fits of giggles from both of them (and the rest of us). Ariana had a much better belly bump than Sienna. Sienna mostly stood there and laughed or ran away to be chased. 

That's the highlights. Such a fun season but I'm ready for it to be over and normal life to resume - including having this baby!