More Christmas pictures

Here are some more pictures from Christmas and our first FLIP video (thank you Dan and Venus!)

The view of our condo from Jen's back deck

Sometimes eating is very tiring...

The girls

Lindsey and Kaitlyn

Grandpa and Reese

Nana and her grandchildren

Nana and Asher

Here is our first FLIP video of Reese opening one of her gifts:

Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas in Helena with Craig, Jan, Mom, Jen and her kids and Val and Steve and their kids. Reese and Asher have completely new wardrobes :) Thanks to everyone for the gifts, tasty food and great company. Here are some pictures from the last few days.
Andrew, Tanner, Jen, Kaitlyn and Lindsey in front of the tree
CK and Val playing the new DS game we got Andrew; still not sure if Andrew has had a chance to play it :)

Reese with the unicorn from Sarah, Fred and Coco

Reese and Grandma cruising

Reese in her new chair

Working up an appetite

Asher and Nana

Reese checking out her pony from Val and family

Grandma and Grandpa reading Twas the Night before Xmas

Reese opening her presents with Nana; this one is a handmade quilt from Great Nana

Visit from Nana

Mom ended up making her connection (barely) in MSP so she arrived iate Sunday night. We spent yesterday and some of today unpacking more bins and slowly moving in. This afternoon Val, Steve, Mom and CK took the kids sledding up on the property. I stayed in the warm pickup with Reese (sleeping) and Asher (eating).

I'm feeling pretty good. Sleep deprived but otherwise ok. I am off the painkillers and am now just using ibuprofen to control pain, and not even much of that. The hematoma has gone down in size and I saw my OB today and he said everything looks good.

Our new digs

We have been unloading most of the day today; "we" really means CK unloads and I watch the kids and unpack a few bins but we are making some progress. This place was definitely worth waiting for as it is a perfect layout for us. It's mostly carpet (good for little knees) and all one level (good for Mom's blood pressure). Above is a picture of the outside that shows two of the four condos. We are the one to the left.

As most of you know we have spent the last 6 weeks living with CK's sister, Jennifer, and her family. Jen has not only provided us with a great place to stay but also many meals and even babysitting services. Reese is really going to miss seeing her Auntie and cousins every day. But...the good news is that we can see our new condo from Jen's window; we are literally across the alley from her. So hopefully we will still see Jen, Tanner & Lindsey often. Jen, thank you so much for putting us up (and putting up with us) for so long. Hotel Jennifer gets 5 stars from me.

My mom was supposed to arrive here last night but because of the huge snowstorm on the East coast her flight was cancelled. She got rebooked tonight but her flight to MSP is delayed so she is going to miss her connection to Helena. Unfortunately that means she'll be spending the night in MSP and trying to get on a flight here tomorrow which could be tough given how many flight cancellations there have been and how overbooked all the flights were to begin with. We hope to see her as soon as possible!

Bulking up

We took the kids into the pediatrician on Friday. Reese received her 2nd H1N1 vaccine and Asher had his 1 week check up. At 10 days old, he has gained almost a full pound from birth and is now 9 lbs. 11 ounces. Not bad! I'm not sure he can keep up this rate of growth but he is doing everything he can to make his sister look like a lightweight. Asher is also 21.75 inches tall and before you think he might have actually grown a full inch in 10 days, CK is pretty sure they mismeasured him in the hospital and he was actually 21.75 upon arrival.

I put together the comparison collage below to see just how much the two kids look alike (or not) at this age. The top two are Reese and the bottom two are Asher. I think they look pretty similar, at least in the nose and mouth. Only time will tell if they end up looking alike.

Some more pictures of our two favorite little people

Nose kisses for Dad

All bundled up

Val, CK and I spent Friday night cleaning our new condo. We begin the move in process tomorrow and hopefully will be settled soon. Mom arrives Saturday night and will be a big help.

Finally, I've uploaded the video Jen took of Reese's first steps. Check it out:

Home from the hospital (again)

Asher and I are home from the hospital for the second (and hopefully last) time. I was able to switch from the IV meds to the oral ones without any problem so I was sent home with a full prescription and instructions of not to do much at all. I'm feeling pretty good. The meds definitely control the pain but also make me pretty drowsy (as if I needed anything to make me more drowsy) so I won't be operating any heavy machinery anytime soon. I return to the doctor on Tuesday to check in and decide what to do about my Lovenox. All in all, the situation could've been much worse and I consider myself lucky to have avoided another trip to the operating room.

Below are some pictures from our time at home (after Asher's birth) and our second stint in the hospital. Enjoy.


Reese was trying to help organize the newborn supplies.
Reese crawling around and under my hospital bed

A big smile for mom...ok, fine, probably just gas
The volunteers at the hospital make these huge stockings for all babies born in December. As you can see, I could probably put both Reese and Asher in his.



Who me? About to pull all these pretty decorations off the tree? Never.

This stocking sure is a soft place to lay my head...
Ahhhh....


I love my borrowed train from Tyler...come catch me if you can