We Have Improved

We took this picture on Monday night:

I'd gone in to start working on the induction process while Ty took the girls to the airport to pick up my mom.  On their way home, they stopped in to see me.  Afton ran into the room, took one look at me on the bed, and shouted, "Why are you up there?  Where is the baby?!"  Oops.  Maybe we should have been a little more clear about what to expect, haha.

I so clearly remember putting Afton to bed almost 20 months ago, knowing she wouldn't be an only child the next time I saw her.  I cried and cried as I sang "Families Can Be Together Forever," and then cried some more after closing her door behind me.  Early the next morning, as we were getting ready to leave for the hospital, I just had to peek in on her one more time.  The excitement and sadness is still so clear in my mind.

This time, on the way to the hospital, I kept looking back at my girls sitting behind us in the car.  I was mostly excited for Afton because she had been waiting for this day for FOORRREEEVVVERRRR.  But I was mostly sad for Eliza, because she didn't have a clue what was about to rock her world.  I knew she'd love the baby, but I've expected for a long time that she'd struggle more with the change than Afton did when she was born.  I was so grateful to get to see them one more time before our lives changed forever.

Saying goodbye to my two kids:

The next morning, I got the following picture in a text from my mom.  I just had to include it in here because I crack up every time I see it.

Thrilled to be here, haha.

Then, at 10:54am, an 8lb and 21" little person joined our family.  She let out a few squawks, got laid on my chest, then calmed down and went right to sleep.  I'm always amazed at what a cool experience that is.

Meanwhile, back at the house...

Hahaha I love these goofballs.  They have been having such a good time with Grandma.

Later that afternoon, my mom brought the girls to come meet their sister.  They ran into the room and giggled almost the entire time they were there.  It was the sweetest.

This was about how I expected things to go.

Meeting Grandma Kathy:

May 12th, 2015 was such a great day!  It concluded with us finally deciding on a name for our sweet baby girl.  She shall be called Kathryn Cali Payne.

Kathryn:  My mother's name.  We want our little girl to be an example of quiet strength, just like her grandma.

Cali:  Ty's sister's name.  We want our little girl to be dedicated to family, learning, and goals, just like her aunt.

We are thrilled to have Kathryn Cali in our family.  All five of us.

We got home from the hospital on Thursday morning, and life is just good.

Catch Up Sum Up and Photo Dump

So I totally failed at my New Year's goal... on the third month of the year.  I made it 1/6 of the year before I messed up.  Not too bad, eh?  And for what it's worth, a LOT has happened so things have been a bit crazy.  I just looked back and realized I didn't even write about February yet.  I started to, but never finished.  So I went back and edited my first couple of sentences here.  Eek.  Alright, I need to move on.  This is turning into one of those church talks where people spend the first half explaining how they were given their assignment to speak and how they prepared their talk, instead of just giving it.  I'm living my very own pet peeve.  Oops.  So anyways...

The biggest thing that happened in February was that Mom and Dad came to visit us.  We had a great time.  It was so fun to spend time with them and to have the only visitors we had while in San Antonio.  We also "bought" their mini van for the price of their plane tickets back to Colorado.  We are so grateful for their generosity, and have already put that van to good use.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

Excited to see Grandma!

Dinner at the Salt Lick BBQ with Mom and Dad, and my cousin Matt and his cute family.

Asking Grandpa why he has boogers in his ears.  (What???)

SeaWorld!

Mom and Dad sent us out on a Valentine's Date

Mom, Me, and Dad with Odysseus (our "new" minivan) in the background

Afton drew her first head with facial features, legs, and arms.

Eliza fell in a ditch.

One night when Ty was on a cross-country flight, the girls and I found a way to keep ourselves entertained.

Eliza started nursery and did really well until she realized she couldn't have all 17 baby dolls to herself.

We were taking pictures of Eliza and this kid just looked so darned cute we snapped some of her too.

We've been trying to go on monthly dates with the girls.  This month I went with Afton and Ty went with Eliza.  And we happened to go to the same place!  Based on our previous conversations, we knew it was a possibility, but it was still fun to run in to each other at IHOP!

March:

Eliza was having a rough time, and I let Afton deal with it because I was getting nowhere.  Eliza was happy again in no time.  Afton is such a great sister.  The wrapping paper mess was worth it.

I'm normally not too into the matching thing, but I just had to with these dresses.  And this is probably the best picture we go out of several attempts.

Ty had put the girls in the bath and then come downstairs to talk to me for a second.  Next thing we know, this little squirt comes running into the kitchen giggling her head off.

Ty made an amazing ice cream cake for my birthday.  This picture was taken right as the candles started to melt the balloon stick stand thing.

Ty and Eliza went on a quick trip to Utah for a funeral.  Eliza was afraid of the black lines on the floor in the Denver airport.  She mostly refused to cross them.

Afton and I had a good time at home by ourselves, and even did some clothes shopping, and apparently she grew up.

Reunited and it feels so good.

Reunited and it looks so good.

I love what good friends these two are turning into.  I love how they can just giggle together doing the goofiest things.

We discovered rollie pollies.  And pretty much everything small that crawls is a rollie pollie in Eliza's book.

Eliza discovered Mega Bloks.  She will patiently work on a tower for over and hour if you let her.

Ty decided the 5th anniversary of our first kiss was a good thing to celebrate.  He surprised me by arranging a babysitter, inviting me via chocolate and flowers, and taking me to a fancy restaurant on a vineyard.  He's a keeper.

The girls also discovered the chronically muddy spot in the backyard.  This is not the only incident in which I could have taken a similar picture.  

April:

Afton's birthday and leaving San Antonio.

Afton pretty much doesn't take naps anymore.  So now she has "quiet time," where she can do pretty much whatever she wants within the walls of a room as long as she's quiet.  I still make sure there's at least a pillow and blanket around because every now and then I'll peek in to find this.

For Afton's birthday (a few days before because Ty had some time that day), we went to an African Safari in Texas.  The girls had a great time.  Afton's favorite animals were the ostriches, and Eliza loved the zebras.

Afton turned three!

"Eliza" got these sunglasses for Afton.  There are princesses on them and that is just the best type of sunglasses a three-year-old girl could ever dream of.

Afton got a balance bike for her birthday.  This is her asking where the pedals are.

Afton told us all week that she wanted a macaroni and cheese cake for her birthday.  The best we could figure to do with that request was to have macaroni and cheese for dinner and then to cut a bundt cake in half to make it look like macaroni noodles.  It seemed to go over really well, but if anyone has ever had a REAL macaroni and cheese cake, I'd be interested to know what that's all about.

A last hoorah with the Osborne cousins at Big'z Burgers.

We really miss being so close to family like we were in San Antonio.

Hittin' the road!

Swimming at the hotel pool.  Our fearless adventurer (Eliza) hated it, while our timid and sensitive one (Afton) loved it!

One of the hotels we stayed at during our journey back to Columbus.

We made it!  It feels good to be back.

We love all of the parks at Columbus Air Force Base.

Being back has not been without its bumps.  We stayed in the temporary lodging facility (ewwww) for almost a week.  Then when we were supposed to move in we discovered that the house smelled strongly of dog.  We waited an extra day for the downstairs carpet to get pulled up and a vinyl wood plank floor to get put in.  Then we moved in to our bottom floor, but not the top.  Then we spent another couple days waiting to convince the housing office that the upstairs carpet stunk too, then another few days waiting for the new carpet to come in.  Then we finally got to start moving our stuff to their final destinations 8 days ago.

Now we are feeling just about settled, we are excited for mom to get into town tomorrow night, and we're just waiting on a baby!  The doctors intend to start the induction process tomorrow night, so we should have a baby sometime on Tuesday.  We are so excited.  So you'll probably get to hear about her when I write about the month of May... when I write in September.  Kidding!  Hopefully sooner.  Signing off for now...