Baby Koen arrives!

Koen Caiden Nhep was born on 10/16/2014 at 2:22 AM. 9 lbs, 7 ounces, 21 1/2 inches long, with only a 3 hour and 45 minute labor. I had seen the Dr on Tuesday and was told I was still only 3 cm dilated (which was what I was the previous week), so went home and walked and walked. He called in for an induction for the next day (10/15) at 3pm. I was to call the hospital and see if they could take me in at 3, well they could not and told me they would call when they were slower and could take me in. After waiting a while, I called them around 8pm and still nothing. Finally at 10 the charge nurse called me and said "we are ready for you." So Ken, my mom and I headed in to the hospital. I got registered in and immediately after registering started having the real-take-your-breath-away contractions (hadn't had any prior to this). So my nurse comes and brings me to my room and on the way there I have another pretty strong one. After getting my gown on she checks me and said I'm easily a 6cm already and didn't think I needed to be induced, meanwhile I am having more and more strong contractions. I was debating about an epidural but with how fast Kaelyn came, this was a narrow window to make the decision, so I said okay I do want one. Anesthesia came in within 15 minutes and whew, didn't have to feel any more of the take-your-breath-away contractions. I am SOO glad I chose to have an epidural, because even though labor was quick, he weighed 9 lbs and 7 ounces. This was the biggest baby I've had by 1 lb! (He is also the latest delivery I have had) my others came between 6-10 days before my due date, and Koen was only 2 days early. I only pushed 3 times, and didn't have to push hard- in fact Dr Huish, said "okay just one light push," and out he came. It was perfect in every way and couldn't ask for a calmer, more easy going baby! Here are some pics of his 5 day life so far... LOVING having a newborn!!!                          

Holding baby Koen for first time!

 Grandma Jaten holding for first time

 1 day old

 Getting ready to take baby home

 First car ride

 One of his first captured smiles

 Cannot get enough of his tiny feet!

 Dad and Mom loving on Koen

Pregnancy... 39 weeks pregnant already!

So this pregnancy seems to have lasted an eternity. We anticipate this is our last, so in a way I am enjoying the moment of having my little guy still inside and being able to feel him moving around, however, after 39 weeks, especially with the last several being in the hot summer, I am READY! I had 3 false labor alarms this week. The first was Monday when I had cramping and contractions on and off throughout the day, then that evening a solid hour of contractions... went into Maternity triage only to find out that I was not in real labor (only dilated to 2cm). So that was an expensive visit. Then Wed and again Friday night the same thing- only this time I didn't go in- I just decided to ride out the hour to 2 hours of contractions at home and both nights the contractions dissipated... so here I am still waiting patiently... All 3 of the other kids came between 6-10 days early, so I have been expecting it and walking and cleaning a ton, trying to magically induce labor naturally with no luck. Anyways, here are a few pics we took over the past week as I wanted a few prego pics before I'm no longer pregnant. I am SUPER excited to meet our little guy... hopefully any minute now!

 

Catching up... Kids Birthdays and First day of School!

So the summer is always busy... Kenley and Kaelyn have birthdays just 11 days apart in July, then Ken and Kyson's birthdays are just 5 days apart in August... it's hard to stay on top of posting!

I will start with Kenley turning 4. She is still only 1-3% for height and weight, still our super girly-girl and wants about every toy she sees that has to do with dolls, dressing up, Frozen, or in general if it's pink or purple, she will go for that too. She has to match (one day when I went to get the mail 2 blocks away she wanted to go, but she said "but mom I don't match." Oh boy. It is super cute though, and she really does dress herself well. Her and Kaelyn have become better friends but also show a good amount of sibling rivalry and both have to have what the other has at all times... so it makes for some fun times. Because of her slow growth, the Dr has put her through more testing to see what the cause is, but so far the other Dr's are just saying "she's just little." She started Preschool with the same teacher Kyson had (Miss Kathrine) and LOVES it.

  Kenley and Kaelyn sharing a birthday cake with family.

 Her Cousin Eleri and her posing with a little pinata.
 

 Kenley's actual 4th Birthday we made her a cake.

Kenley's first day of preschool with Miss Kathrine

Kaelyn turned 2 in July and is 94% for height and 55% for weight, so she and Kenley can share a lot of their clothes. In public we get so many questions if they are twins (which is ironic as I had always wanted twins) as they are so close in size. It's fun in a way, but almost eerie as they are 2 years apart. She is really picking up with her language, wants to do and be everywhere her brother or sister are 100% of the time, which can drive them bonkers, but she is trying to go with the flow. She has her favorite blanket that she has to have for comfort to fall asleep and can sure throw a fit if things don't go as she wants them. Definitely strong willed.

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Kyson turned 6 in August and started 1st grade. He is becoming a smart boy and loves reading, playing video games (Lego, Minecraft, etc), and is still really into building legos, and running around. He is always up for an adventure outside like camping, the park, or biking. He is super helpful and is for the most part a good listener when it comes to mom and dad asking him to do something, which is wonderful. Kyson wanted to go to Legoland for his birthday in California, but since I am pregnant, we postponed that, and he settled for Chuck E Cheese. We will still take them when I'm not so pregnant :o).  They have enjoyed the past several birthdays celebrating with their cousins, but 2 weeks ago my brother and their family moved back to UT, so it will be much quieter around birthday times and we will really miss having them around!

Kyson's first day of First grade!

Colorado trip July 2014

For 4th of July this year we decided to take a trip to Colorado. One because it's one of my favorite states, and two Ken and the kids have never been. The first day we landed we drove to Estes Park, CO which is 20 minutes outside Rocky Mtn National park. We stayed at Jellystone (with Yogi Bear), which the kids enjoyed the family amenities (they have a pool, playgrounds, mini golf, an arcade), and some nice bathrooms (I must say). The views were gorgeous. They even had the chance to meet Yogi bear but only Kaelyn went for that option. The other pics are of Yogi's statue.

From there we went into RMNP for the day and did a few little hikes around Bear Lake and Sprague lakes- both were only around a mile each, which was perfect for the kids and still beautiful!

We got to visit some of Ken's family in Fort Collins as well. His dad's sister lives there with her husband and I got to meet them and a cousin of his for the first time. It was good to meet some of his extended family, as I have only previously met 2 of his other aunts before. I got some genealogy done while visiting, which was good to hear more family history from his side.

We then spent some time in Boulder, went shopping, watched the fireworks at the college stadium, explored Pearl Street mall (outdoor mall area) and just relaxed in a hotel before heading out camping again.

The next evening we headed back into RMNP and drove over the most beautiful pass I have seen. Gorgeous picturesque in every direction. It almost felt like a dream. We spent some time taking pics and got a few cute ones of the kids.

We stayed on the west side of the park, called Timber Creek. There were elk everywhere throughout the campground. The next morning the family was sleeping in so I drove around a little and found a great shot of an elk with a reflection. I taught the kids to fly fish along the creek as well, although we didn't have any luck. If we didn't have little children I would be fly fishing a ton more... CO is full of incredible places for that.

Peak One Caqmpground (outside of Frisno, CO)

We drove through Silverthorne Springs, which was another favorite, Vail, and camped another night at Peak One Campground, next to a lake in Frisno, CO- also really pretty and the kids LOVED the beach aspect. Then back to Denver for some outlet shopping, and got a hotel for our last night there.Overall the trip was perfect. Lots of beauty and I think the kids enjoyed it very much as well.

San Francisco and Yosemite Trip 2013

We took a one week trip to San Fran this past week. We started by camping at Big Basin Redwoods State park an hour south of San Francisco. It was very beautiful, tall huge redwoods all over, along with very curvy/ hilly roads to get to the actual park. Kyson and Kenley loved it. We fell in love with a little cute town of Saratoga just outside of the park. Could absolutely live there.

After this we spent a few days in San Francisco- went to the Oakland LDS temple, which is always a nice spiritual experience (you really can't come to a temple and not feel the spirit). We went to the visitors center and watched a few of the movies. It was wonderful for all of us.

 We then went to some park in Berkely on the marina there. It was freezing, but felt perfect after starting to get used to triple digit weather in AZ. We also went to a folk festival, Lombard street, and Baker Beach where we got a few family photos

Sunday morning we ventured a 4 hour drive to Yosemite, which was remarkable. You feel so small and in awe at the scale of beauty there. Waterfalls, meadows, granite so tall you have to turn your head to see, deer, tall trees, and tranquility. Can't think of anything better. I even asked Ken if we could work a summer there sometime when we're older and the kids are grown. Haven't gotten a solid yes to that question, but he was amazed at the beauty as well. We went on 3 shorter hikes and camped at a campground called Wawona. Very pretty scenery in every direction. Kyson wanted to climb every rock/ boulder that he saw and would whine when it was time to hike a different direction. Kenley got cuter and cuter after I was taking hundreds of pictures, they said "cheese" about 300 times probably!

 Monday night we headed back to San Francisco and stayed the last two nights north in San Rafael. We spent time at Crissy Fields, where we got some awesome, unfoggy views of the Golden gate bridge, went to China town to meet with our friend Yan for lunch, and spent a bunch of time at Pier 39, where there are still 100+ Sea Lions chilling on the docks, great food, fun stores, and the aquarium at the Bay, which was super neat too. 

Our last day we packed up and went to the Jelly Belly factory and took a tour to see how Jelly Belly's are made. It was fun and the kids enjoyed seeing how the yummy gems are made. They even gave us free bags of Jelly beans and I discovered some really good ones that are chocolate coated (they have mint choc, orange choc, cherry, and raspberry chocolate.) Very good stuff!

Overall it was a much needed vacation, beautiful, and even the kids cooperated. They especially enjoyed our rental van that had a built in dvd player and we rented a few redbox's for them to watch along the way. Kyson loved the red color of the van along with the features that he literally hugged the van and wanted to take it home with us.