New Born Pictures

Reid Michael

He is finally here!! I cant tell you how happy we are that he has come to our family. He is simply perfect! It has definitely been a long journey to get him here, but it was all worth it. I feel so blessed!!  Reid was born on Sunday October 5th 2014 { 4 days late I might add..} We first went to the hospital around 1:30 in the morning after having contractions for the allotted hour. They send us to the triage room to check on the contractions, how far dilated and effaced I was etc... Contractions were there, they were constant like they should be, I was 3.5 cm dilated and 70% effaced. I guess it's the hospitals policy for laboring mothers to have to walk around for 1 hour and be checked again for any  progress before admitting them into the hospital for delivery. So Boyd and I walked.. came back and was checked again. Still only 3.5 cm but 80% effaced. NOT enough progression. {so sad!} They gave me the option to walk another hour before they called the Dr. to see what she thought, but the nurse was sure she would send me home. Boyd and I walked again. This time the contractions were getting stronger and more frequent. A good sign I thought and was hopeful that it was making a difference.. After our second hour of walking they checked me again and no progress was made... so i bet you guessed it, they sent us home, even though my contractions were 2 minutes apart and very painful. Home we went with some pain medication. We got home around 6:30 am and we both tried to get some sleep. Boyd got just a tad, where I got none. Contractions were practically unbearable and getting closer and closer together. Almost 2 hours went by, when I finally asked Boyd to call the labor and delivery to tell them what was happening and to see if we should come back in. Contractions weren't even stopping now. Yes they wanted us to come back in!! { stinking Dr.s and Nurses... shouldn't have sent me home!! but don't worry i'm not bitter......} They didn't even send be back to triage, straight to room 319 I went. I was at 8.5 cm now. In two painful hours I had gone from a 3.5 to an 8.5! { seriously they shouldn't have sent me home.... still not bitter..} Luckily I was still able to get an epidural for the pain. {Praise the Lord!} 

Now that I was more comfortable they wanted to try and have me wait until 12:30 pm to deliver so that I could get all the antibiotic needed before delivery because I had tested positive for the group B strep. I needed to get 2 bags of penicillin through my IV before he was born in order to avoid having to stay in the hospital 48 hours. Reid decided he wasn't going to wait. After one bag of penicillin and two hours after arriving for the second time he was born. 10:46 am and face up! 7 pounds and 1 ounce, 19 3/4 inches long and just perfect. 

We are all just so happy to finally have him here and part of our family. The girls just simply adore him and want to be around him all the time. He is a very good baby. Couldn't have asked for a better one. So glad he is here and completing our family. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

First Day of School 2014 { aug 6 }

Charis started Kinder! She was very excited to be able to go to school with Kailey this year. 

Her sign says:

" kindergarten

teacher: Mrs. Flinn

Settler's Point Elementary

lives in Gilbert Az

5years old

wants to be a disney princess

favorite color: orange and rainbow"

Kailey is in Second Grade!  Her little sign says:

" 2nd grade

teacher- Mrs. Gillman

lives in Gilbert Az

Settler's Point Elementary

wants to be a teacher

7 years old

favorite color - rainbow"

We are all glad that the new school year has begun. The excitement the girls have for learning is fun, and I hope that it will continue to grow as they get older. 

Annapolis

My mother and her husband Patrick took me on a wonderful trip! that's right, they took me and only me! is it because i'm the favorite child... i would say yes! 

we left on 6/4/2014 and came home on 6/8/2014. FOUR wonderful days!

we stayed on the Naval Academy in the Officers Inn.

{ you can only stay there if you're an officer or are related to one. Thanks again Joey!}

our first day we were there was really nice. we got up and went to the PA Dutch Amish bakery and store. they have THE most delicious pretzels you will ever have. i cant even explain the amazingness of the soft inside and the perfectly crisp outside. SOOOO GOOD! 

after our yummy treat it was off to the subway and on our way to Washington D.C!

bad picture of me but had to show us on the subway! 

here is our adventure through the " Mall " as they call it. this is where all the museums, monuments and memorials are.

just off the subway and stepping into the mall. {washington monument}

its funny, if you look you can see that the monument is two different colors. this is because they started to build the monument, then a war happened so they had to stop and when they came back to finish it, they used a different type of stone. 

the white house

after the Washington monument you come across the WWII memorial 

{ apparently its the only memorial in Washington.. the rest are all monuments...interesting...}

when they built this memorial they tied in symbols into the design. here is a little link with just a bit of info on what the symbols are. 

http://www.wwiimemorial.com/?page=design.asp&subpage=memorialdesign

this is my favorite quote in the WWII memorial. 

next we went on to the Vietnam monument. the first one is of the women. this statue is symbolizing Hope, Faith and Compassion. 

faith

compassion

hope

this is the Vietnam wall. if you look you can see that it starts out small and grows taller and then gets smaller again. i tried to get a picture of the whole wall. 

just a comparison as to how tall the wall is in the middle. Pat is 6'2". im guessing its about 12'.

an interesting fact we learned, if you look in this picture you will see that there are diamonds after the names and some have a + sign. the names with the + sign after them tell you that they are missing. Diamonds show that they are past. its just to sad to think that some of these men who risked their lives are still not found. 

after the Vietnam monument we went to the Lincoln Monument. 

{let me tell ya, lots of stairs!}

the Gettysburg address.

the ceiling of the Lincoln monument.

the view from the Lincoln monument. you can see the WWII memorial in the middle { look for the fountains} and then the Washington monument and then the Capital. 

after seeing Lincoln, we went to the Korean monument. 

this one is neat cause its made to look like the men are hiking through the trenches. 

they had a wall with soldiers engraved in it. it kinda gave the feeling of the ghosts of the war. 

after we finished up at the Korean monument, we went to the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian. 

sorry only took a couple of pictures there, but they had some neat things, like the flag that the Star Spangled Banner was written about,  the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, Julia Child's Kitchen, parts of the Berlin Wall and other war souviners.

after the musem we hopped back on the subway for a a bit and went to the Ford's Theater. 

we toured the house where Lincoln died. 

This is part of the house that they made feel like you were on the trail to find John Wilkes Booth. 

after the house tour we went and watch a short play at the Ford's Theater.

the box where Lincoln was shot.

The house Lincoln died in across the street from the theater.

after the play we got back on the subway and headed back to Annapolis. 

we had dinner at an Irish Pub. it was DELICIOUS! 

my shepherds pie! yum!

Day 2 

we had breakfast at Sofis Crepes. it was really good. 

after breakfast, mom and pat gave me a little tour of the Naval  Academy

. 

This is Bancroft Hall. 

this is where all the students live on campus. 

it was gorgeous!

we mosied around down town Annapolis a lot. it is such a neat little town, so full of history. i absolutely loved every minute of it! 

that night we had dinner at the officers club the Alley.

{once again, thanks to Joey we were able to get in.}

we took a ghost tour of Annapolis. it was fun to hear some of the stories. 

we had plenty of yummy ice cream. 

Day 3

this is the view from the top of the street leading down to the bay. 

you cant really see it very well, but if you look you can see the water at the very end, and that's the Annapolis harbor leading out into the Chesapeake Bay.

we took a water tour of the harbor. it was beautiful. 

 

here are little kids learning to sail in tiny sailboats. too cute!

this is the view of the catholic church built by the only catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence.

I had such a wonderful time in Annapolis. I honestly didnt want to leave. if i had tons of money i would have a house there. the weather was perfect while we were there and everything is so green. a little slice of heaven just for me. 

Thank you to Mom and Pat for a trip I will never forget!