She's Here!!

Before...(taken on my actual due date, April 9th)

After...

Ivy Kate Hartung

Born on Sunday, April 17th at 8:43pm

9 lbs 10 oz and 21 1/2 inches long

Holly was so excited to finally meet her new sister.

Oscar's first time holding Ivy.

"Is the baby going to come out today?"

Today is my due date and I'm blogging and not in labor. Holly came in this morning and said "Is the baby going to come out today? Your tummy looks big enough." The other day she said "When is she going to come out?! I've been waiting for almost a year!" Oscar saw my belly button sticking out the other day and said "Mom, you're going to pop!" There have been other comments like "Wow, your tummy is really stretching!" To all these comments I want to say that I can sympathize with them and feel the same:). I feel like my tummy is definitely big enough and wonder when this baby will be born. We are patiently waiting and only time will tell.

While, I haven't blogged for the last couple weeks here are a few things we've been up to.


The kids had a bath in our big bath tub.

Here is a picture of Cider, our mystery cat. She's easily scared and hides under our bed or in our closet when there's too much noise or anyone comes running in too fast. When it's just Brad and I around she comes around and enjoys being loved and hanging out. After many years of adjustment for her and the kids, both Holly and Oscar can now pet her and play with her a little (If they are quiet and not too jumpy). Lately, Holly has noticed how Cider's eyes glow when she peeks at her under the bed. This fact combined with Cider's roaming and running spurts in the hallway at night has now caused the kids to feel unsure about her. Oscar will cry if cider pokes her nose in his room at night and pushes his door open. Holly gets nervous about night time bathroom trips because she often will spook Cider and cause her to run frantically away which in turn startles Holly. Occasionally, Cider will hiss because she's scared. Anyway, we've tried to talk the kids through this and help them realize they don't need to be scared of Cider. She's not going to come after them. This whole thing is so funny to me because Cider is such a shy and harmless cat that the kids have worked up in their minds to be some kind of scary creature. Anyway, they are getting over it.

A couple weeks ago, for Family Home Evening, we tried a family activity off of one of the Veggie Tails movies. It was to get some big kitchen utensils and put them in a pillow case. You reach in and whatever one you grab is what you have to eat your dinner with. The message is that sometimes we make a mess of things but God will still always love us. We worked in a few other analogies that would work and mainly just had some laughs. Holly got an ice cream scoop. Oscar got a pair of small tongs. Brad got an interesting spatula/tong combo. I got a huge pair of plastic tongs. It was pretty fun.

Here's Holly trying out some yoga moves on the Wii Fit.

One day, Oscar decided to take the initiative and get himself dressed without being asked. I saw him after and was pleasantly surprised. He commented that he was almost ready and just needed to wet his hair. I found him upstairs in our bathroom a few minutes later like this.

I'm not sure how effective the blow dryer was but he felt pretty good about it.

It can be hard work:).

I think he's satisfied with the results.

Holly came in and decided she should do her hair too.