It's Been Too Long!!!

Sorry all!

We have been extremely busy this summer. Between family vacations and working on Grandpa Roy and Grandma Connie's house we have neglected our blog. But here are some pictures for you to enjoy. The pictures with the giant dinosaurs are from the night we went with Uncle Matt and Aunt Abby to the T-Rex Cafe in the Legends. Another picture has Westin's first time in a Bumbo. He did really well considering it is yellow! He is also such a ham with that cute smile of his!

The two kids are getting old enough and able enough for Mom and Dad to trust them taking a picture together. But we have to be quick before things spiral completely out of control.

We hope that this post finds you and your family well. We sure are; life is good!

Potpourri

Summer is flying by and we are managing to stay pretty busy.

Here's what we have been up to!

SISTER BEAR

Saige is enjoying swimming, being with her friends and cousins, and playing with Westin (she calls him brother bear). Saige has also decided it is time to ditch the diapers; so far she is doing amazing with very few accidents! YEAH!

BROTHER BEAR

Westin is working hard at eating and growing. He will being going in for his two month check up soon. At home, he was measuring almost 23 inches already and is no longer wearing newborn clothes. He's getting so big! Now, if he could sleep through the night...

4 weeks ago...

... my water broke at school. Luckily it wasn't like in the movies with me standing in front of a class of juniors with a huge puddle around my feet. I was discrete; I calmly left the room, came back, and called some colleagues for help. Ten minutes later, while I'm standing in the hall with the other teachers, my students realized something was happening and they started freaking out! Honestly, I was shocked that this was happening and it was happening at school, but I remained eerily calm. The school secretary drove me to the hospital. Tim was rushing from work, after my two strange phone calls. The first saying I think I'm in the labor. The second saying, I am going to the hospital because I'm pretty sure I'm in labor.

Our son was on the way!

Six hours later, Westin Michael was welcomed into the world! Labor was intense, I didn't use any medicine this time. Near the end, I thought I was really dumb and was doubting my choice. But after he was born, it didn't matter anymore and I was so excited to have Westin here!

Happy Birthday Westin!

We are trying to adjust to life as a family of four. Tim and I knew that life was going to be really different, but I don't think we were prepared at all. It has been challenging to balance our attention between the two kids and one another. Although, I think we are starting to get more of a routine now and we are making progress.

Here's Westin, 4 days old

Saige (aka Sister Bear) loves her Brother Bear so much! She is constantly checking on him and trying to help. She is doing a pretty good job; we are just working on touching him gently, speaking softly, and staying directly out of his face.

Baby feet are just too cute!

Our little monkey after his bath. He is starting to be more awake and looking around.

It's amazing how quickly he has changed!

Here's Westin, 4 weeks old, and still living with his parents.

Thankfully!

The last 4 weeks have been quite an adventure,

full of fun surprises, lots of naps, some tears, and a lot of love!

Tim and I are so blessed to have two amazing kids!

A Family of Four

Westin Michael has arrived!

Westin was born on May 20, 2011 at 7:32 p.m. He was 7 lbs, 15.8 oz, and 19.75 inches long.

We are so excited to be a family of four!

Saige adores her little brother and enjoys holding him. His cousins also think he's pretty cool.

Thank you for all your prayers and support along the way!

38 Weeks, No Baby Yet

I am officially the most pregnant I have ever been!

Baby Deuce is quite comfortable and is not ready to leave yet,

but hopefully he decides to join us soon!

Saige wanted her picture taken too!

Giving her little brother a hug!

Such an excited big sister; hurry up brother!

Trial Run: 36 Weeks

Here I am at 36 weeks, it was almost our last pregnancy picture!

On Monday, we went to the hospital with some late-preterm labor symptoms. We called the doctor shortly after we got up to get ready for work and he decided we should go to labor and delivery to get checked out. Luckily, we had started to do some packing on Sunday, but not all of it was done. Tim was running around the house trying to throw things in the bag and get Saige out of bed.

We drove Saige to daycare and she was very confused. She wanted to go to Matt and Abby's and could not figure out why we were all going to daycare. After we dropped off Saige, Tim and I headed to the hospital. We joked about how this was similar to when Saige was born, we thought we would be sent home shortly and we laughed about how we didn't even put the baby's car seat in the car yet, nor did we have a bed ready for the baby at home yet.

When we got to the hospital, we found out that I was having contractions and I was dilated 2 cm. We also found out that I had an infection, that was likely causing the contractions. The doctor and nurses were hoping the antibiotics would stop the labor from progressing and we would go home soon. After the first round of antibiotics, I started to have more contractions and had dilated further. All of a sudden, everyone thought we were going to have a baby!

The doctor called and the nursery staff came in and talked about all the risks and complications the baby could have because we were a week premature. Tim and I were overwhelmed and shocked. We were just trying to take it all in and were starting to realize that we were not quite ready for this baby (we still had a list at home to complete)! But, we also were excited and anxious to meet our little boy!

After a few hours though, we hadn't really noticed any changes in my labor and we began to realize one of two things. One, that this was going to the longest labor ever or two, that we maybe weren't going to have a baby. As you may have guessed, it was option two.

We ended up staying overnight for more antibiotics and observations. We were released this morning. We came home and started working on our list to do before the baby really gets here! Next week would be great, we would be full term! I am staying home for a couple of days to rest and then I will go back to work. Tim is back to work tomorrow.

Thank you to all of our family and friends for their support and help! Thanks to the Crane's for helping with Saige! Thanks to Emily and the math department for helping take care of my students and everything else at school!

Stay tuned, our next post may be to introduce the newest member of the Stallbaumer Family!

Hoppy Easter!

Saige was really excited to the Easter Bunny when we got to Bass Pro. Up until the point that she realized we wanted her to sit there by herself. She cracked a couple of smiles when the bunny tickled her, but of course the camera was to slow it get a smile.

If we don't see you this weekend, have a Happy Easter!

- Tim, Renee, Saige, and Baby Deuce