Olivia's first pictures

Taken by my friend Amanda, of Amanda Anderson Photography!

It's really a girl!

The doctor wasn't certain, but I felt all along that it was a girl. Thankfully I was right, since I got a boatload of girl stuff at my shower! Olivia Jennifer Weighall was born Monday, March 9 at 7 in the morning, weighing in at 9 lbs. 3 oz! I'm still getting used to the idea that I actually have a daughter. I've been in boy-land for so long that it's definitely an adjustment. Diapering is different, and a lot of other things are different so far as well. A big one is the fact that she will sleep without being held, and be awake without crying! We've had our share of sleepless nights but it's night and day (pardon the pun) compared to my boys!

Labor and delivery-- I was hoping all along that I would deliver early, and I wish it could have happened that way. Four days after my due date I finally went into labor. My contractions started about 10pm Sunday evening, but because this had already happened several times I told Mark we should wait a while to make sure I was really in labor before we had to get someone out of bed to come over and watch our kids. As a result, by the time we got to the hospital (about 1am), I was already dilated to an 8 and contracting really hard. That's a mistake I won't make again! After pushing for an hour or so (I think), the Dr. said that the baby wasn't moving and if we hadn't made any progress by 6am we would have to consider an alternate method of delivery. The baby's heartrate also started to drop every time I had a contraction, and as it turned out the placenta was pushed up against her head. When she was finally born and weighted at 7:10am, the Dr. said it was unlikely I would have been able to push her out. I wasn't very happy about the C-section, but she was born healthy and that's what is important. We are so happy to have our baby girl!

The waiting game

I've been having contractions here and there for several days now, but nothing has come of it yet. As you would expect, I'm feeling very uncomfortable and ready to be done, although I'm still unsure about how this is going to work with three kids and a new baby! I'm really enjoying sleeping through most nights and I'm not looking forward to going back to getting up several times a night every single night. I went through a period the last few weeks where I couldn't stop cleaning stuff. I cleaned out and vacuumed my closet, which probably hasn't been done in three years! I'm telling you, "nesting" is not imaginary!

My great friends Brittany and Susan threw me a baby shower which was incredibly sweet. Also, my sister drove up from down south for the shower and stayed overnight with us, which is always fun. She's such a big help when she's here, and of course the kids love her!

My friend Amanda Anderson from Evan's school is starting a photography business and needed some maternity shots for her portfolio, so we took the kids down to the park and took a bunch of picutres. It was really fun, and she got some beautiful shots!

Grandkids

Mark's brother and sister-in-law Rob and Kristy flew in from Alabama to visit this week with their two boys, Logan and Grant. It was the first time I have met them! It was neat to get all the grandkids together for a picture, and we even got some of them to smile. When we were in Utah for Christmas, we also had a chance to spend some time with my brother and sister-in-law and their boys. It was the first time all my mom and dad's grandkids have been together as well, and we happened to take a similar picture.

The Weighall grandkids (minus Adalai, the first girl, born in Nov.)

The Bigler grandkids
Isaac, Conner, Leland, Evan, Andrew and Bobby

Nothing like an impending birth to motivate you to get things done!

Last week Mark and his dad put a brand new laminate floor in our dining room. We figured this would be preferable since things get spilled daily in that room, and the carpet takes a beating! The Saturday morning project (Mark's estimate) turned out to be about a three-day project, but the result is great! Mark's dad also put a wall in where I've been wanting one forever, but unfortunately I forgot to take before & after pictures of that one. We also got new (bigger!) cabinets to put our toys in, and are getting new cabinets for my craft stuff (which is plentiful, as we all know).

Dining room before



The boys "helping" daddy

About half way there

Now we can put all our toys away! And our floor is always clear! ***chortle snort****

Blue Skies....smilin' at me

Our house is near the edge of a plateau or bluff, and when you look over the edge you see a town called Oildale. This town, as the name implies, is full of oil pumps and so the view isn't exactly breathtaking. After a huge rain storm in Dec. I was driving along Panorama which runs along the edge, and I saw a sight I had never seen. Oildale--not shrouded in pollution! To give my friends and family who don't live here an idea of how bad it is, I took some pictures that day and some more just the other day when the view was what I normally see when I drive down Panorama. Now to be fair, I don't drive this way every day, but in three years of living here I have honestly never seen the view like this. I never knew what (if anything) was beyond that wall of haze.

A rare blue sky

A typical day here in good ol' Bakersfield.