Hi!! Summer if flying by as usual! This is a long one so get ready! :)
In June my aunt and uncle and cousins from Colorado came out to the lake. It was so fun to have them there! Aunt Dawn was a huge help with getting the girls started skiing! Hailey was the first to get the hang of it! Yay Hailey!!
Addison, cousin Jenna, and Hailey
The girls played AMAZING with Jenna and Jordan. Jenna is about 7 years older than the girls and it was neat for me to see how the girls will be 7 years older than their baby sister. If they play as well with their baby sister as Jenna played with them, this will be super fabulous! :) :)
Lots of tubing :)
Jordan and Hailey
Their whole fam on the hot dog... but not for long. :)
Then one day we went to the Dells to a waterpark/amusement park. It actually got DRENCHED and I mean DRENCHED from a torrential down pour running out of the park. It was quite hilarious. :)
Then the end of July, my whole family came out to the lake! It was the first time they have all been here together since the girls were born! So it was so fun to all be together and quite crazy too! :) Here's Em and Hailey practicing being big sisters to their cousin Brielle. SUCH a sweetie!!!
Paddle boatin' with Ry...they caught one! :)
My fam had to start off the trip with an "energy" drink :) So funny.
Kara and I had lemonade. :) Here we are at 26 and 34 weeks.....can't even tell you how fun it is to be prego with your sis!
All the "big kid" cousins on the dog.
Lots of excitement...too bad Bryce fell off the back like 2 seconds after this pic. :)
Addison and Kamryn
The very soon to be ma and pa! :) :)
All the big boys on the dog...
Beach babe Brielle!!
Then Hailey had a little soccer incident where a ball hit her hand as she was goalie and we thought it was just sprained or something for a couple days but then took her in and found out she had fractured her wrist! Poor girl! So she was quite the trooper and got a cast on now! (I think she was secretly excited to be the first to get a cast on). :)
Little did we know this was Kara's last bump shot! 34 weeks and 27 weeks for me!
Grandpa Joel can still rock the water! Love it! :)
How many people can we fit on the dog....
Grandpa Joel and Grandma Gwen and grandkids!
Ryan and his girls :)
Now don't try this at home.. :) but our last night the guys decided to shoot fireworks at each other. Don't worry - it's not as bad as it sounds. :) And no one got hurt...only one small burn in a shirt. :) But it was quite hilarious and entertaining and the guys had fun. Crazy!
Cousin love
When we came back from the lake Hailey got a cast on! She has to have it on for three weeks and then a splint for three weeks. Luckily she gets the cast off right before school starts because she can't write/color very well with it. :) She is doing so well though and never complains about it! She's a champ!
And speaking of champs....how about THIS ADORABLE nephew of mine?!!! Meet Kenton James!!! So....my sister had started to worry about this little man in her belly because he hadn't been moving as much as he used to the last two days we were at the lake. We tried to reassure her and thought maybe things were so busy there she didn't notice his movements or maybe he was just getting big and tired! But mom's know! She just KNEW something wasn't right so they got home at midnight on Thursday and then on Friday, August 1st, (which happened to be Kara and Cory's 5 year anniversary), she called the Dr, went in, and found that his heart rate was NOT good so they had to take him emergency c-section RIGHT then at 35 weeks exactly!!!! AHHHH!!! This was probably one of the scariest days/weekends of my life - even more than when my own preemies were born - probably because we EXPECTED mine to be early and in the NICU and everything but not sweet Kenton! So this little man joined the world with a blood count of 10 - suuuuper anemic, lungs full of fluid, etc. They literally didn't know if he would make it. He had to be helicoptered to a better NICU and no one was sure he'd make that transfer. I guess Kara had a maternal fetal hemorrhage and this can be a common thing for most still births! So eeekkk!! It was so scary and super hard to be away!! But can I tell you how AWESOME our God is for protecting this little life?!!! SO much to praise Him for....Kara and Cory were able to get home JUST. IN. time literally...to have their baby...and thank GOD we weren't still at the lake which isn't close to many hospitals, let alone a great one for preemie babies! And I'm sooo thankful that he was able to many blood transfusions and all sorts of great care to help Kenton get a kick start on life. As you can see he is a little tired from all the chaos :)
but we are SOO glad he is improving. He is now off the ventilator and cpap and only gets a little bit of help with some oxygen now. He has taken down some bottles too but could use some help nursing and staying energized enough to eat. :) It will probably be a couple more weeks of NICU life...so thanks to all of you who have prayed for him and please keep them going! And I couldn't be more proud of my sis. She was so strong through it all and had SUCH amazing intuition. I love seeing how much she loves her baby. I am dying to get out there but my plane ticket wasn't until AFTER her due date (which was Sept. 5) so hopefully he'll be home from the hospital by then and we can cuddle him together in her house. :) Love you so much Kenton!! Can't believe you joined the world less than 24 hours after I saw you in your mom's belly!! Life is so nuts. Never what we expect huh?! I do have to say this whole thing has made me emotionally overwhelmed and also more worried about the little girl in my belly! All of my sisters and sister in laws have had emergency c-sections with crazy stuff happening and then my sister in law on Ryan's side has huge babies in cars! So either way I am freaking out!! :) So I'd love your prayers for one of those super smooth nice and easy deliveries for this little girl. :) Either way I guess, I'm thankful I'm not in control and Someone much greater than me will take care of it all. Love you so much baby Kenton! Grow baby grow!! :)
