Craft Weekend/Baby Shower

The ladies in Matt's family and I got together for our annual craft weekend in Wisconsin. We stayed in a cabin, made 3 different crafts, played family feud, had my baby shower, and had lots of fun! Thanks everyone for the gifts!

From left to right/back to front: Me, Aunt Laurie, Cousin Tracy, Aunt Janine, Aunt Judy, Aunt Nancy, Sister-in-law Melanie and Baby Gavin, Grandma Bernice, and Mother-in-law Kathy.

Kathy & Melanie threw me a beautiful shower!


Gavin wanted to share what he produced over the weekend (j/k - it's the diaper game!)

Kathy, Me & Melanie

Melanie made my baby boy the cutest blanket! Aunt Laurie also made a smaller one for cuddling with.

Lots of adorable little outfits!

Matt loves this shirt.

I got the valances and diaper stacker that match our nursery!

Kathy put her table runner on her head...hmmm, what does she look like?

Laurie holding Gavin - if he grows one more foot he'll be just as tall as her! (Just kidding, Laurie, we love you!)

Tracy and Janine's turn during family feud.

My turn against Judy - but I had the pregnancy brain excuse.

Kathy was our host of the game, and she did such a great job!

Nancy and Grandma - Grandma always beat Nancy to the bell, and Nancy would put a dent in Grandma's hand! Ouch!

Gavin and Judy

Judy teaching Melanie how to use a sewing machine - and making sure she knows every single detail before starting.

Tracy, Laurie and Grandma sewing their table runners.

Janine and Gavin

Look at all the things I made! A table runner, a decorative jar for my baby room, and Christmas ornaments!

Pregnant Friends!

We had lunch with our friends Dan & Mandy on Saturday. Mandy is also pregnant and due the same week I am! It has been so nice to have a pregnant friend to compare experiences with. Who do you think will deliver first?

A visit with Kinsey

Matt & I visited Kinsey again on Saturday. She's doing so good! As you can see, she is not on any oxygen and doesn't have any tubes in anymore. They discovered that she has a small hole in her heart, but this is a common problem in preemies. It will usually close up on it's own, so they will just monitor it. She should be going home on Sunday! Her name is very special to our family. Kinsey was the name of the main character (Kinsey Millhone) in my dad's favorite mystery novel series by Sue Grafton. Her middle name, Ann, is Jon's mom's middle name.

She looks so much like Amy in this picture! She's wearing the headband we got her!
I even got to hold her! She's such a peanut and very sleepy. We saw her open her eyes just for a minute, then they were closed again.

Kinsey the Cutie!

Matt and I visited Kinsey tonight, and she was looking great! She's breathing on her own and breastfeeding. She looks so cute!

Matt, Me & Kinsey Ann.
Sound asleep...she has lots of hair on her head. We think her profile looks like Amy. She also has very sensitive skin like Amy.

She is a good sized baby for being 1 month early!

Itty bitty feet!

Update on Kinsey

Kinsey, my sister Amy & her husband Jon's baby, is doing much better today! They were able to take the breathing tube out last night (Monday). Today they had a C-pap machine on her, and this afternoon they took that off as well. Now she is breathing completely on her own! The doctors are hoping that in the next day or two she can be moved into Amy's room with her, and she will be able to go home just a couple days after that! These are old pictures from yesterday's ordeal. It was very scary seeing her like this.

Kinsey with a breathing tube in. You can see the nurse's gloved hand at the top of the tube, pumping air into it with a little syringe every few seconds. Obviously he couldn't continue doing that manually, which is why she had to be transferred to another hospital.


Dr. Trevor getting ready to meet his little sister before she's transferred. He also got to pick out one of the hand-made stocking caps that the hospital provides for all newborns, and he gave it to Kinsey.
Amy with Trevor in her lap, looking at Kinsey. The NICU doctor is the lady in the sweater. The male nurse in the maroon/purplish shirt is the one pumping air into Kinsey's breathing tube. There were a lot of people in the room to monitor her.

The paramedics getting ready to transport her. I told Trevor that they were going to put her in that "blue tent" and take her for a ride to the other hospital. It's a lot of equipment for such a little baby! My sister, Kacie, and I were waiting in the window behind all the equipment. My mom was in the room with Amy, and these pictures are actually from her phone.

Kinsey is all set up in her blue tent!

Such a fragile little thing! I'm glad she's doing so much better now than she was in these pictures. It was so hard to watch!

My Sister's New Arrival!

Kinsey Ann

Born: March 14th @ 8:13am

Weight: 7 Lbs 14 oz

My sister, Amy, had her baby this morning! I got the phone call from Amy at 5:40am saying that her water broke and she was having contractions. Amy's husband, Jon, was at work so I drove Amy and Trevor to the hospital and Jon met us there. The C-section went well. Little Kinsey was having some breathing trouble, so they had to put a breathing tube in. The doctor also decided that she had to be transferred to a different hospital that has breathing machines. The doctors are not worried though, and suspect that she'll be breathing on her own in the next 24 hours. Mom and baby are doing well right now.

Amy got to hold Kinsey in the NICU for just a minute before they had to send her by ambulance to the other hospital. This is the only picture I have of her so far, because I didn't actually get to go in the NICU to see her. I will post more pictures as soon as I get them.


Amy and Jon before the birth - excited for their little girl to be here!

Trevor is ready in his "Big Brother" shirt! He gave each one of us a colored paper clip while we were waiting, and told us it was our "ticket" for seeing the baby. Then he proceeded to tell us which color paper clip got to go first. It was pretty difficult for him to have to wait to see his sister, especially since she was in the NICU. But he did a great job for a 4 year old!

Aunt Kacie bought him a chocolate donut for breakfast.

Amy after the C-section and waiting to see her little Kinsey!

Jon stopped in to announce she had arrived! (And proud Big Brother Trevor, of course)

Teagan's Birthday Party!

We celebrated Teagan's 8th birthday at Angela & Ryan's house. Teagan had a horse-themed party.

Nana & Gumpy got her a hand-made bed for her American Girl doll.
Opening more presents.

Kaitlin thought the doll nightstand was a chair made just for her!

Baby Gavin enjoyed the party - (but his favorite part was when Auntie Sara made Uncle Matt practice changing a diaper on him!)

Tyler and his girlfriend, Ashlee, made an appearance.

Kaitlin loved Auntie Sara's idea of playing in the box.

Teagan got Squinkies from us!

Aubrey getting a ride from Daddy Jason.

The cake that Nana made.

"Make a Wish!"

Certain people in our family (who shall remain nameless) are scared of dogs. How can you turn down that precious face?!