School's in Session

The last week of August Alexia and Rayden headed off to school. It felt so strange sending our two oldest off to school all day. They were excited to go!

I know Lexi doesn't look too excited but that was because she didn't want me taking her picture. She just wanted to go!!! The only problem with sending them to school was that SImon was left home alone. On the first day he didn't wake up until after they were gone and it stressed him out big time. He didn't know what to do with himself all day and didn't want me leaving his side which I didn't mind too much. He was dying to head off to his first day of preschool. Preschool didn't start until after Labor Day and 2 weeks is a lifetime to a 3 year old. Finally he got his very own First Day. He wasn't too keen on waking up in the morning but once he remembered he had school he was so excited!

He got to eat cookies and write his name and meet new friends. He was in heaven. 

Simon starting school gives me 2 hours 3 days a week where I can spend time with just Kynlee. However, she fell asleep the first few days and I was all alone. I had a hard time what to do with all that time to myself! I'm so proud of my kiddo's and the great start to the new school year we've had!!

First Haircut

Kynlee is the first one of our kids to have an actual head of hair when they were born. I kept waiting for it to fall out but it has only kept growing, and growing. Unfortunately it is only growing on the top except for a few straggler hairs on the sides. It got to the point that I could pull her hair into a very small ponytail.

Yeah we know, it was time for a haircut! Here is a before and after shot.

BEFORE

I love how it sticks straight up. I never could get it to lay down!

 Dirk pulled out his clippers and we trimmed her up nicely. She sat so good!

AFTER

Now she's already to head off to church! It looks SOOOOOO much better!





Baby Blessing

Our Fourth of July weekend was pretty much the same as it is every year. We went to the fireworks with family. We went to a parade and were loaded with candy. The kids got new outfits. What did make this year's holiday so special is this little one....

Kynlee's blessing was on July 3. Dirk gave her a beautiful blessing. She wore the dress that I've had hanging in the closet for 4 years in the hopes that Simon was going to be a girl and would wear it. I made her headband, flower and all, and she looked beautiful. She was surprisingly good through the whole blessing and even cooing and smiling for Dirk for a few minutes afterwards. After that she became the colicky little stink we know and love. (Thank goodness she has grown out of that stage now!) We had a great bbq at our house afterwards and survived the extremely hot day. We are so very blessed to have Kynlee as part of our family.

As a side note. The next week or so after this Lexi "borrowed" the camera without permission and forgot about it. The camera was lost for over a month and I thought I had lost these pictures for good so I had Dirk's brother take some more. Our neighbors found the camera in their camper the next week. Here are some pictures that Jake took for us.

Grand Tetons

Back in June we took a little family vacation to the Grand Tetons. We went up with our good friends, the Knight family. The weather was a little cool but everything was soooo gorgeous! I think Dirk took a million scenery pictures.

 This one is the view from our campsite.

We took the kids bikes up with us. They loved riding them around the campsite and on the trails to the general store.

About 30 minutes after Rayden started riding his bike he managed to run over a nail and get a flat tire. He was so upset. The general store at Colter Bay didn't carry patch kits for bikes so Dirk took one of the wheels off of the bike trailer and put it on his bike until we could drive to Moose to fix his tire.  On our way to Moose we saw a moose!

The kids loved it!

They also loved going to see Old Faithful in Yellowstone again this year. Simon had to go to the bathroom about 2 minutes before the geyser was suppose to errupt so Dirk ran him to the visitor center and they came out just in time but not in time to make it back to where the rest of us were so Simon is a lone man in the picture.

Rayden loved walking around the hot pots. I think it was the highlight of his day. Alexia couldn't stand their smell and Mom was nervous the whole time that one of the kids would fall off the walkway into one.

One of the days that we were there we drove down to String Lake and had a picnic. The kids loved skipping rocks in the water.

 Simon insisted on helping us out and he pulled the cooler with lunch in it to the picnic area.

We went for lots of walks around Jackson Lake as well. The kids loved finding walking sticks!

And it isn't any fun unless you get to play in the freezing cold water for a bit!

We also spent an entire fishing at Jackson Dam. Dirk was determined he was having fish for dinner. Brett caught fish after fish before Dirk had his first nibble. He finally caught enough fish for dinner!

And there is no better time camping than sitting around the campfire making s'mores!

 All in all it was a great family trip and Kynlee did great on her first camping trip. She toughed it out wonderfully at only 3 weeks old!

Our Baby Girl

I am woefully overdue in the blog department. I can't believe it has taken me so long to post some of these pictures!

Kynlee Cecelia Sorensen was born on May 27, 2011 at 2:23pm. She weighed 7lbs 3oz and was 19.5 inches long. She was the same size as Alexia so they tie for being my smallest babies. Kynlee is the only one to be born with actual hair!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Kynlee in the last couple of weeks.

Poor Kynlee was white as a ghost from the cord being wrapped around her neck twice.

Alexia is one proud sister!

Rayden loves Kynlee to death. His poor friends have to put up with him asking them everyday if they want to "See Kynlee's cute litte face."

These two could be twins except Kynlee has more hair than Simon did. 

 Going home from the hospital, May 29th.

 1 week, 2 days old enjoying some time in the backyard.

 Taken this morning. She smiles in her sleep and this is the closest I have come to catching one.

 I also wanted to post Kynlee's birth story. I really don't expect everyone to read it but I want it written down for my own sake. Be warned that it is very long and full of details.

I came home from work Thursday afternoon around 3:30pm. I went to the bathroom and noticed that I had lost my mucous plug and was having bloody show. I called DH to let him know that labor could start within the next 24 hours or so. I was having contractions but nothing really different then my Braxton Hicks. I spent the afternoon cleaning house and getting ready just in case. By 8:30pm my contractions changed and were harder and closer so I started timing them. They were 3-7 minutes apart but still not horribly painful. They stayed like that all night and I had tons more bloody mucous! I tried to sleep but I couldn't sleep through most of the contractions so I mostly dozed all night. The next morning DH got the kids ready for school and I called the dr's office. They had me come in to be checked. I was at 5+cm and 80% effaced so she sent me to L&D. This was around 10:15 am.
Our hospital has never been known to be natural childbirth friendly. With my other kids it was always, "This is how we do things and we don't deviate." I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in my room and found a birthing ball already there and they let me know that the on call doula was on duty. My nurse asked me what my expectations and birth plan were and she wrote it all down on a white board on the wall. She was an amazing nurse and I am so glad I had her. They hooked me up to the fetal monitors to check on the babe before letting me get up and walk around. I never got the chance to get up. My poor girl never passed any of her Non stress tests. We tried all sorts of things to get her heart rate where it should be but nothing worked. With each contraction her heart rate would dip way down and take 3-5 minutes to regulate again.  So at 1:00pm the doctor decided I needed a low dose of pitocin to get my contractions closer together and get her here. My nurse felt so bad and was apologizing the whole time she hooked me up because she knew it wasn't part of my birth plan, but I knew we had to do something if baby wasn't doing good so I was ok with it. I was nervous about continuing naturally. I turned my iPod on and listened to track after track of my Hypnobabies as the pitocin started to kick in. I'm not going to lie, it was hard! My nurse came in and helped me with my breathing and showed Dirk how to counter pressure my pains for me. This was the first time he had ever gotten involved in the labor process and he was amazing! I knew how uncomfortable he was with the idea of a natural birth but he really stepped up to the plate and made me so proud. I got to a point where I didn't think I could it anymore and that is when Dirk got a text from the girls at work. It said, "Tell Hanne good luck and that we know she can do it!" Talk about perfect timing! A few minutes later the dr came in and said I could start pushing whenever I wanted to. Two pushes later at 2:23pm Kynlee was born with the cord wrapped tightly around her neck twice. We were lucky she could be delivered without cutting the cord during the process. They unwrapped it from her neck and laid her on my belly while the dr helped to pulse some of the blood back through the cord to Kynlee. She was so pale it was scary. They were going to take her straight to the NICU but she started to root so they let me nurse her first and she started to pinken up. She nursed for 30 minutes and got to stay with us for a full hour before they went to run tests to make sure she was ok. She passed all of her tests and is doing great. She was 7 lbs 3 ozs and 19.5" long, the same size as her big sister. Her brothers and sister are over the moon in love with and so are Dirk and I. We are so glad she is here!

Baptism

On April 30th, 2011 Alexia chose to be baptized. We are so proud of her! She is such a great example to her brothers and sister.

Easter Sunday

The kids really enhouyed Easter Sunday this year. We thought, for sure, that since it was so late in the month that the weather would be great. We were wrong. It was still cold and rainy. Spring has refused to come to Utah this year!

 Needless to say the kids had a blast still with 2 egg hunts and rolling eggs at Old Main Hill!