Family of Four

Here are a few photos from today. We had a full day of feeding and cuddling and visiting. Kaia came up again this evening. She was all about giving Baby Halle hugs and kisses. Halle and I will stay one more night, while Kaia and Mike went home to sleep. When Kaia left she was begging for Mommy and Halle to come too. We'll all go home tomorrow and then the adventure will begin! I cannot believe we are a family of four!

Halle Kate Loos has Arrived!!!

Halle Kate Loos was born at 9:23 AM July 27th, 2008. She weighed in at 8lbs, 5ozs and was 20 inches long. (Halle is pronounced Hal-ee like Halle Barry)

Mom did awesome. We came to the hospital at 6:50 AM and started pushing at around 9:10 or so. She was a champ.

Everything is good. Mom is fine, baby Halle is fine, and dad is sleepy but fine as well. C'mon, dad has to complain about something or he wouldn't be Mike Loos :)

Baby (No longer now) Kaia got a chance to meet her little sister and was a bit, well, unsure. She wasn't overly excited but wasn't sad either. I know they'll be best of buds soon. Kaia gave baby Halle a high five when everyone was handing high fives around she was like..... "Halle high five?" We said, "Yes, go ahead, but try and be gentle." She was gentle enough. She'll learn ;)

Here's some more pics. Enjoy everyone!


Kaia is not too sure yet.

The Three of us

More to follow tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Welcome Baby Deacon!

Well, Anna beat me...she went into labor this morning and Baby Deacon arrived at 5:23 this evening. He's a little one, only 6 lbs, but healthy and beautiful. Anna is my new hero - she pushed for a whopping 45 seconds, yes, seconds! One contraction and out popped baby. What a woman!

We had a whole crew of friends in the waiting room, but we didn't have to wait long. Mike stopped in Anna's room at 5:15 to say hi and she was at 10 cm and getting ready to push. A few minutes later, we decided to go down to get some dinner, assuming it would be awhile. As soon as we got out of the elevator, we heard Brahm's Lullaby (meaning a baby had just been born). We all looked at each other like, "no way", and decided we better just go back up and check. Sure enough, baby had arrived! To quote Steph, "Anna comes from behind to win it all!"

The whole thing was a good experience for Kaia to be at the hospital and see Anna and the baby there before I will be there with her sister. By the time we left, Kaia was waving and yelling, "Bye-bye, Baby Deacon".

Here's just a cute picture of silly Kaia. It must be kid instinct to put on the Mr. Potato Head glasses.

No Baby Yet!

We've been waiting anxiously for this baby to arrive. At my appointment on Thursday I was dialated to 3cm and showing other signs labor was near. My midwife said she's be surprised if I made it another week. Currently, it's 10 days before my due date, and Kaia was 9 days early, so it's hard not to get my hopes up. Maybe my next post will be baby pictures....

This weekend Mike had a golf tournament on Saturday, best ball, his team shot 4 under and took 8th place. Mike won me a $50 Target card. One of Mike's teammates, Bob, won a label maker - awesome! Kaia and I went to Jakob's 3rd Birthday party. The usual crew was there along with Jakob's grandparents. I took a few pictures, but you have to check out the Kelner Blog, the Bradberg Blog, and the Yearous Blog for more. (I could link them in the text, but I'm too lazy, the links are listed off to the right.) The Kelners have a particularly cute one of Kaia.

Playin cars. As you can see, Kaia has no problem hanging with the boys.
Jakob very politely asked if Kaia could sit next to him at the table. He is such a nice little boy, and very smitten with our daughter.
All the kids (and Heather) patiently waiting for cake and ice cream.

Daddy's Girls

Daddy surprised both Kaia and I with flowers this evening. Kaia's were fake, for safety's sake. And mine were my favorite - Gerbera daisies. What a great guy!

For the last few days, Kaia's been asking for "covers". Meaning she wants her blankie from her crib and she wants you to cover her up with it. Maybe it's a hint that our AC is too high. Or maybe she's just in a cuddly mood. I don't know, but it's pretty cute. It brings me back to childhood. Her blanket was made by my mom. I and all my siblings had our own similar to it (also made by mom) that we were attached to as kids. I kind of miss cuddling with my blankie!

Mmmm...Cake

This morning Kaia said she wanted some cake. I just happened to have a box of cake mix on hand, so we baked a cake. She was a great helper, but I think her favorite part was licking the whisk.

" Yum-O!" I kept saying that so I think she now believes that's what we call cake batter. She kept asking for more "Mum-O".
Yummy!
"Um, guys, I'll take some cake too, please."

Stormy Weather

Last week we had a few nasty storms pass through the area. On Thursday, we were under a tornado warning - the first time I ever took shelter in the basement since we've lived here. The skies were green, the clouds were swirling, and the wind was blowing 70 mph. It was enough to scare me, but it passed quickly and did no damage to our property. I was impressed at how far it blew our garbage can (empty, thank goodness!) I had to take a picture. The green can blew from the end of our driveway. The gray can in the distance, next to the tree, blew from the end of the Sauke's driveway on the opposite side of our house. And those are big garbage cans! That's some wind!

Dress Up Day!

It was a day for dressing up at playgroup yesterday. The kids finally discovered the dress up box that's been stashed in a corner of the classroom. Jakob and Kaia happily modeled the fancy dresses and sparkly shoes. To Jakob's credit, he wasn't only interested in crossdressing, he did also try out a Nascar racing suit, I just missed the photo opportunity. How silly!

Church in the Park

We had a worship service and lunch in the park today. The service was great, the kids had an awesome time playing, and the food was fabulous. We all came home full, dirty, and exhausted.

Mike, Kaia, and Tyler. I love watching tall Mike walking with the little kids.
Kaia and Tyler on the swings. Kaia would swing for hours if we let her.
Mike finally talked Kaia into going down the slide.
Look at the happy couple...Mike and Debbie with Baby Caleb. Ha, ha.

Stick a Fork in Me, I'm Done

Just thought you'd like a picture of my big ol' belly. My due date is not until July 30th, but I'm ready for Baby anytime now. And if I went into labor, no one would try to stop me. My body is getting ready - the baby's dropped low and I've been having lots of contractions, but it could be weeks yet.... I hate the waiting game!

Attack of the Killer Weeds

No, this lush vegitation is not the middle of the Amazon, nor is it an overgrown, fruit bearing garden - they are weeds. These weeds have been left to grow for only four weeks or so, amazing huh? I made sure to take pictures with Kaia and Kylie in them for comparison. Notice how they grow taller than the windows and the full size air conditioning unit. Very sad. We think the seeds came in with the dirt we imported after the flood. Mike pulled them today and we will soon be planting grass and landscaping around the house. Yay!

Happy 4th of July!

We decided to fore-go our annual trip to Oshkosh for July 4th this year, just in case Baby decides to come early. We discovered that Winona is a ghost town on Independence Day. Everyone must celebrate elsewhere. So Mike went golfing in the morning while Kaia and I hung out in our jammies. We played/worked outside a little in the afternoon. Then we picked up a delicious Dairy Queen dinner and went to the park in the evening. The highlight - feeding the ducks our leftover french fries.

Window Watching

Since it's been so warm and humid and I am a house, we've been spending a lot of time inside with the AC cranked. Kaia doesn't seem to mind though. She's content to sit in the window and watch the cars and trains go by. Whenever we hear a siren, she says "Ire-truck (Firetruck), WEE-OOO!" We watched the garbage truck last week, and she hasn't stopped talking about it since. Here you see Kaia and Kylie having a moment. Yes, Kylie has bows again, blame the groomer, but I still think they're cute. Kaia doesn't like them. She keeps trying to take them out.
Kaia is watching Daddy on the "tractor" (lawn mower). Who knew this would keep her occupied for a whole hour!

I know these are two pictures of the back of Kaia's head, so check out Heather's Blog for some more good pictures of Kaia with her friends.

Mike's New Toy

Mike purchased a new toy - AppleTV. I was reluctant to believe that it would be as fabulous as he was trying to make it out to be. When it comes to electronic gadgets, Mike has to give me a pretty good sales pitch before I agree to buying it. But for once, I'm starting to come around. The AppleTV is a small reciever that is connected to the internet and your TV. You can use it to download and listen to/watch music, pictures, podcasts, TV shows, movies, and YouTube videos! It is actually really convenient. I'm still trying to figure out how we are going to avoid the inevitable - loosing this tiny remote control! I'm thinking about duct taping it to something bigger.