Sunday, August 29, 2010

backyard photo shoot

Auntie Mac came over for a quick photo shoot the night before she left to go back to New York. Though they are not edited yet (Mac will be very angry at me for showing these pre-edits) here is a little sneak preview. Once she is done editing them they won't even look like the same pics, but seeing how she just went back to school, I don't plan on getting the edited ones anytime soon! Emma was a fairly good model, even though it was not very warm outside. Makena, on the other hand, was NOT excited about having her picture taken. The rest of the photos are on picasa but I have to warn you that these are the good, the bad, and the ugly. There are a few that prove just how NOT photogenic ben and I are!

Finally!!! Here are some photos...


We finally got our usb cable in the mail, so here are some of our favorite photos from emma's first week of life. Things are still going pretty well.
Makena has gotten a little more used to the idea of sharing her daddy, emma decided to only wake up every 3 hours last night (rather then every 1 1/2), and we've even made it to another wedding! Ben went back to work on Thursday, so the girls and I got to have our first outing on our own. It was very successful, other than not finding anything I needed at Target (and lots of things I didn't need).

Next week's adventures include emma's first youth group, first mini-vacation to Port Townsend, and another wedding!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Welcome Emma Mae!

First, let me apologize for the huge blog fail! Would you believe me if I said we've been busy? The other slight problem is that we lost the usb cord to the camera so have been unable to upload photos (good timing). But a new one is in the mail, and we should be in business soon! Until then, here are a few photos taken from our phone.

And now to introduce Emma Mae VandenBos! Emma was born August 18th at 9:15am, she weighed 8lbs 2 oz and was 19.5 in. She is an incredibly healthy, beautiful and laid back baby. I am very thankful that labor and delivery went so much more smoothly then with Makena...only about 7 hrs of labor and 20 minutes of pushing before she came into the world. She came so fast we actually had to wait for the doctor, and 2 pushes after the doctor arrived she was born! I guess it helps being 4 cm dilated before labor even begins.

So far it looks like all hope of having a child that looks like me is lost. Emma looks so similar to Makena as a baby, and even has a very similar disposition so far. Ben just keeps saying it's his strong Dutch genes...no breeding them out!

Makena loves her new baby sister. She wakes up in the morning asking for "mommy, daddy, baby sister." When we ask her what baby sister's name is she answers, "emma baby." She loves to "hold" her, kiss her, and pretty much be involved in everything we do with her. The only thing she doesn't like is when daddy holds emma! In fact, the quote of the week was when Ben and Makena were sitting on the couch one morning and Ben said to Makena, "baby emma looks sad, should we go pick her up?" Makena responded "no baby up, makena up!"

Emma is not quite a week old, but she has already been on many outings! We have gone to two doctors appointments, to Target, out to lunch, out for breakfast, to the swimming pool (Ben and Makena swam while Emma and I watched), and even to a wedding! She is very easy to take out and about since she tends to sleep All the time (except for at night when she decides to get all gassy..and yes I know that's a made up word). So far having two children is an amazing and wonderful experience, and Ben and I are having lots of fun, though I have to admit, we are a little tired!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Still no baby...

Well, my due date has come and gone, and baby is yet to make an appearance. I guess this just means she will be taking after the Nielsen side of the family...always fashionably late! Hey, maybe this one will even look like me! It's probably a good thing that she hasn't decided to pop out the last couple of days though, as Ben has been sick with a fever. I would prefer that Ben is able to be there when his daughter is born!

I have been keeping myself distracted by having lots of fun with Makena the last couple of days. We've been to the pool, the park, the farmer's market, had picnics in the backyard and mommy even got some much needed gardening done yesterday!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

i'm taking over

It's official...I'm taking over this blog! Just to make it more dramatic I thought I'd add a nice feminine background for a while, but I make no promises that it will last (unfortunately ben still has full permissions). So please look forward to more frequent, more grammatically correct, and hopefully more interesting posts from the female half of the household (wait...the females are more like 4/5 of the household)! And hopefully we will also be able to post some baby news soon!!