Kristen's Blog

What are you looking at?

This little girl has been the happiest baby!  She usually smiles for the camera.  I was trying to get some pictures of her the other day and she was in a funny mood.  She was giving me some great faces.

 

Finally...

 

I love these girls!!!

Aren't they cute?!?!

Here come the teeth

Leah got her first two teeth about a month ago.  They broke through at the same time, one week before she was six months.  She will already be seven months on Saturday, which really doesn't seem possible.  She is a delight!  I've been lucky to have really good babies, but she may beat everyone with the "best" baby award.  Or, maybe it's that she has three other mothers to take care of her.

 

 

Spring/Summer=Many Birthdays

In our family, all of the girl's birthdays fall in the months of April, May and June.  That is 5 in all!  I have never been one to plan a great, fun, themed, big party for any of my kids.  I guess I'm not the most organized person (admitting it is the first step, right?) and I kind of like things to be somewhat low-key.  So, birthdays in our home are that way.  We want to make the child feel special and I think we have done that most years.

 

Mya's birthday is the first to come.  She loves having friends over, but usually seems a bit unsure about getting lots of attention.  Once again, she would not blow out the candle.  The others all gladly volunteered to help.  Luckily they are sweet kids, because I didn't even get frosting on the cupcakes.  They didn't seem to care one bit.

 

The next birthday was going to be Carly's.  We were hoping that the new baby would come before the end of May, even though my due date was June 1. 

Thankfully, Leah came two weeks early.  I hadn't been feeling well the night before she was born.  I went to bed and woke up numerous times.  Around 5am I decided I ought to just get up and get ready for the day.  I had my 38 week appointment that morning and decided that Ryan should come with me in case anything was going to happen that day.  Luckily he was there with me at my appointment.  I was measuring 4 cm and my doctor wanted me to go straight to the hospital to be monitored since this was my fourth child.  My doctor called the hospital to tell them I was coming soon and was told that they were on bed divert....NO ROOM!  So, they sent me up north even further to another hospital. 

On our drive up, my water broke, but luckily I didn't have too many contractions until I was actually at the hospital.  Once there, Leah was born about an hour and twenty minutes later, just before noon.  Everything went very quick and smooth.  Ryan likes to joke that it felt like we were just running errands and having the baby was one of them.  It really did go well and the hospital was beautiful with great doctors and nurses.  I was up and moving soon after and we went home the next afternoon.

 

This poor little thing looked like she was beat up.  Her face was blue and purple from coming out so quickly.  She looked a lot better the next day...actually pink.

We also didn't name her until day 10.  Naming our children has always been tough for us, but this one was the hardest by far!

 

She really didn't like getting into her car seat as we left to go home from the hospital.

 

I love her face here (about 4 days old).  It's like a perfectly round, fuzzy peach.  She had quite a bit of fuzz on her face, shoulders and arms.

 

About 3 weeks old.

 

8 weeks old

 

2 months--getting bigger!

 

Just over 3 months old.  She'll already be 4 months in a week.  I truly can't believe it!  She has been such a sweet baby.

Carly had her birthday 11 days after Leah was born.  She was such a good sport because I told her we had to wait until grandma got here to have a party.  My mom couldn't come until my due date so we had planned to have some friends over while she was here.  But, in the end, Carly's party got canceled because it was scheduled for the day after Ryan had his accident.  Hopefully next year will be better. 

 

 

She will be the best babysitter!  She loves her sisters and is such a great help around the house...most of the time.

My birthday falls 5 days after Carly's.  It was my 30th.  I guess my present this year was that my husband is still alive.  I am being serious.  We feel so blessed that nothing worse happened to him.  Don't get me wrong, he was hurt very badly (cycling accident, lost control, landed face first in a cement ditch) and there is still a lot to be done for his teeth, but he came out with injuries that can be fixed.  His brain was fine, he didn't break his neck or back, and he is continuing to do so well.  We really do feel so blessed!  Maybe next years "birthday" pictures will be a bit more enjoyable.

 

 

Home from the ER...they sure cleaned him up well didn't they?

 

Looking great just over 2 months after the accident.

The final birthday of the bunch is Kate.  She has her birthday the day after our anniversary, (no celebration this year, so next year will hopefully be extra great) on June 23rd.  It was very low-key, since Ryan had his jaw surgery one week earlier.

 

She loves her new puppy toy, Bruno.

 

She, too, did not want to have anything to do with those candles.  Luckily the other girls took care of blowing them out.

 

We have a nice break from birthdays now.  Ryan's isn't until after Christmas, and then it starts all over again!

A Summer in Pictures

Summer seemed to skip the Howell household this year.  We were so, so, so busy!  It was jam packed with fun, exciting, crazy, scary, painful, loving, and happy events.  Here are a few pictures detailing the past few months.  Their may be posts later on that go into some more details, depending on my mood.  But, for now, here are some great pictures from about May through now.

Dance Recital-"Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid" -May 2nd

5K-The Gift of Breath and Life (Lung Cancer) -May 16th

Baby girl #4-May 19, 2009.  Two weeks early...YES!

 

Mom came to help.  What a blessing!!! -May 31st-June 9th (She extended her stay because of the next picture.)

 

Happy 30th Birthday to Kristen.  Fourteen stitches, jaw in 4 pieces, many of his teeth damaged in some way, a few gone, two titanium plates in place now and he's looking great with a few gnarly scars.-June 4th (only 3 days after my due date...good thing the baby came early)

 

Kindergarten Graduation-June 8th

 

Fun with family-July 4th, Twin Lakes, CA

 

3 Generations-July 4th, Fallon, NV

 

BYU campus-July 14th

 

Rockies Game-July 25th (just over 2 months old)

 

Naming and Blessing of Leah-August 9th (10 days shy of 3 months old)

 

Petting Zoo-August 21st.  Can you tell which child wasn't enjoying the animals?

 

Train Ride-August 21st

 

Water Feature at park-August 22nd

 

First day of 1st grade-August 24th

 

Tired mom and growing baby. -today (already 3 months old).

Back in Business!

After a LONG break, expect to see an update soon.

Haircuts

About a month ago, we decided that the girls needed haircuts/trims.  Kate was especially in need of one.  Her hair was getting very long in the back and staying nice and short on the sides.  I always get a little sad when it's time for the first haircut.  Plus, they don't stay still for very long so it's not an easy task.  Of course, girls may be easier than boys since it's pretty much a straight cut along the bottom.  I couldn't tell you for sure though.

I also added a few pictures of Kate with our penguin humidifier.  She loves it, and is not afraid of it at all.  Even when she is feeling sick, the penguin helps to make things better.

A Fun Few Days

My parents cam e to visit us this past weekend.  It was a lot of fun to see them and to have them at our home.  We are lucky enough to see them a few times a year, but it's not usually in Denver.  So, it was fun to have them on our turf.

It was the perfect weather for them to be here.  The temperature was ideal and we were able to do some great outdoor activities.  I took them to see Ryan's office downtown where we brought a picnic and enjoyed the park that's around the corner from where he works.  We stopped off at the Children's Museum and let the kids get even more worn out.  On another day, we went down to Colorado Springs and enjoyed The Garden of the Gods...beautiful!

Good times had by all and we look forward to another visit, hopefully, from my mom when the baby arrives.  We love being able to spend time with family and are so grateful to have some family members really close and others sort of close (within a few states).

Is it already February?

The past two months have been busy for us.  We ended the year with a wonderful Christmas at home.  It was nice to not worry about traveling or being anywhere by a certain time.  As the kids get older, the holidays seem to get more fun.  We had a great and meaningful Christmas season followed by some travel right after the holiday and lots of time with family!