Siena's party

yummy cake with rose candy molds on top retrieving the candy from the pinata

enjoying the cake

all lined up ready for presents

pinata time! I am so glad we have a living room with no furniture in it, it comes in handy when we have parties.

Dave finally had to bend the petals to make it easier for the kids to break. it was hard

craft time. necklaces for the girls and bug magnifying glasses for the 2 boys working hard

musical butterflies. we took a butterfly away at first and Ben didn't get it so we decided to not take them away anymore. it was very cute they flew around like butterflies.

yum!

While Nana was in town Siena had a birthday party. I didn't want to throw a big party for her and miss it if I went into labor so we had Nana and Siena plan it. I got home from the hospital 3 days before the party so I was glad Nana was here. For her second birthday Nana threw her a party too because I had just gotten home from the hospital with Ben. Poor Siena I am always out for her parties. Good thing my mom can be here. Siena had a really good time planning it with Nana. Nana and I were able to convince her to have a spring/flower party instead of a Dora/soccer party. It was a lot of fun. Nana had 2 crafts to do and 2 games to do and a pinata. We never get Siena a pinata and she was so happy. Nana took her out shopping at the party store and they came home with all kinds of fun things. All week leading up to it they planned the games and made the cake. It was a lot of fun for Siena and I didn't have to do anything!

Right before baby

Trying to keep busy before the baby arrived. It was a beautiful day and Nana was here to play with.

enjoying the great outdoors.

Nana brought him a fireman rain jacket and he wanted to sleep with it he was so excited to have it.

a true fireman now.

I buzzed Bens hair all off. Siena didn't want in the bath this time so she happily read to him.

Claire Kristin Meilstrup

Dave falling asleep between contractions

Baby Claire. 7 lbs 2 oz.

Proud daddy

ready to nurse already

going home

going home outfit. the same that I went home in and Siena went home in.

the kids so excited to show her her new toys

proud big sister

proud big brother

We are so excited she is finally here. With all my babies I have gone past my due date. It is so frustrating to me because I am always to the point of being done. I was swollen everywhere and uncomfortable. Nana had made it town Tuesday so I was prepared and ready to go. I knew I wouldn't go into labor early though. My babies seem to like it inside. I had scheduled an induction for Tuesday and cancelled it and then again Wednesday and cancelled it. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. From the past two deliveries I knew that my body could go into labor so I thought I shouldn't push the baby out if she wasn't ready. I really didn't want to have a baby on St. Pattys day. It was a beautiful day and we were out all day. I had a dr. appt and an ultrasound appt. Then we went to the park and played outside for the rest of the day. Contractions started to happen around 4p.m. on the 17th but they were really irregular. We continued to walk around the neighborhood. Finally around 6 I started timing them. They were coming every 7-10 minutes and lasting 45 seconds. I was too distracted to eat dinner which was a really bad idea. My labor with Ben was really fast and it made me scared for this labor. The big BYU game was on this night and Dave was excited to see it. I was getting nervous that I would have to pull him away to go to the hospital. We made it through the basketball game and then I wanted to go to the hospital. I called the Dr and she said I could come in and get checked. Looking back I should have calmed down and taken a shower or gotten some rest. I was just scared she would come fast. I had 2 contractions for the whole 15 minute ride to the hospital. I was getting nervous that they would send me right back home. When we got there we went in through the Emergency room and got yelled at by a nurse because apparently I was pacing (having a contraction) too close to the check in window and another couple was there and apprently they needed space. Another nurse saw I was actually having contractions and came to my rescue and escorted me to labor and delivery. I got up there and they checked me and I was only a 2. I was so mad. I was a 2 at the Dr.s earlier that morning. I hadn't progressed. They told me to walk around till 1am and if I had progressed they would admit me. I was determined to progress. I walked around those hopital halls for 1 and a half hours. It was awful. I so wish I had just stayed home and gotten some rest. The contractions picked up and were getting pretty bad. At 1a.m. I had progressed to a 3-4 so they admitted me. I finally got a room. They put an IV line in and I walked for another hour in the room. This is the point that Dave fell asleep while I had no epidural and was pacing back and forth. He probably got about 3 minutes of sleep between each of my contractions when he would jump up and hold my hand or rub my back and then he would go back to sleep. They checked me at 2 a.m. and I was only a 5. I was so mad. I wasn't progressing very fast and I was so tired from not taking a nap or rest all day long. I got my epidural, with great fear, but I did it. It worked wonders... with Siena it didn't work at all and I had lots of back pain afterwards, that is why I was so worried about it. It relaxed me so much. It wasn't even an hour later, I had gotten a little rest and I was fully dialted and ready to push. The problem was I didn't want to push I just wanted to sleep. I pushed for 15 minutes and the baby was out. I was so excited to be done. It took us a whole day to name her. The kids have been dead set on the name Claire. Whenever anyone asked them what the babies name was they would say Claire. Dave and I had different ideas. Finally a day later we came to our senses saying the kids are forever going to call her Claire and we liked the name so we went with it. I wanted some part of my name to be with her so we put her middle name Kristin. I wish we would have done that with Siena too. We are so excited she is here. The kids adore her. Siena didn't really like the hospital but was super excited to bring the baby a balloon and see her. Ben has loved her since first sight. He talks to her and loves to hold her. It is very sweet. We are so happy!

St. Patrick's Day

The kids were so excited for this holiday this year. I think in preschool they had been talking a lot about it. I went and bought shirts for the kids earlier in the month and they were really excited to wear them. I was prepared early just in case the baby decided to come. Ben really caught on to the wearing green part and was excited to pinch people that weren't wearing green. Both kids even wore green pajamas the night before. Nana, Dave and I didn't so they were excited to pinch us in the morning. Nana made the day extra special. The night before we went out and bought a lot of green food. That morning we had green pancakes. I was surprised that the kids ate them but they loved them. They woke up to green footprints all over the house that led to some treasure. Siena had done a leprechaun hunt at school the day before and was so excited that they came to our house too. They had left some tiny leprechaun size food at the end of their trail. We all went to an ultrasound that I had that day and Ben was determined to find someone not wearing green so he could pinch him. Our ultrasound tech went and found 2 technicians that weren't wearing green and brought them out to the waiting room so Ben could pinch them. It made him so happy and all the technicians thought it was hilarious. It was a wonderful warm day and we spent all of it outside. I was glad Nana was around because I was having contractions all day. Baby decided to join us the next day.

Siena turns 5

My girl is 5 years old. It seems so old to me. I cannot believe that I have been a mother for 5 years. It makes me sad to think that she is so old and she will be going to school soon but I guess I will just deal with that when it really comes. She is a good big girl. We started celebrating Saturday when we went out and bought all the fun food for her day. She started Sunday with donuts and ended it with Pasta. This girl loves pasta. She would eat it everyday if she could. The boys went out Saturday and bought her presents and then we had a family movie night Saturday night. She was very excited to have her birthday on a Sunday and go to church. The primary sang to her and she got a cute Jesus picture. It was a very fun day and I am glad we could spend it together as a family and spoil this cutie. We gave her her cake that night and then we got to skype with Nana and Papa and Jennie and her kids. So much fun.
Siena being sung to.

The first year she blew out the candle all by herself!

riding the new two wheel scooter. For months now she has been asking for a scooter for her birthday. She has always said she wanted a 3 wheel one because a 2 wheeler was too big. Finally she tried her friends 2 wheel scooter and found that she could do it. It was so exciting for her and I am glad because because now she doesn't have to upgrade to a 2 wheeler in a couple years. Dave actually bought it with her there but I guess she either didn't mind or didn't remember. Lucky us. All Sunday it was raining so she couldn't go outside to ride it. We let her ride it inside for the day. She was excited for Monday after school when she could ride it outside. I took her out to lunch Monday after school and she was so mad. She just wanted to go home and ride her new scooter. It was funny because when we finally did get home she rode it for 5 minutes and then came in because it was too cold. This girl is stubborn and persistent.

Princess game for the leap frog.

Bambi. We had family movie night Saturday night so we decided to give this to her early. Dave and I loved it, it is only 70 minutes... so short for a Disney movie. The kids really liked it and surprisingly were not scared. Ben kept talking about the hunters and how they came in to shoot the animals. I guess it's the whole point of the movie but I didn't realize, or remember, how it's all about the animals growing up and maturing and falling in love. At certain points I thought there might be some questions from her but there weren't. Lucky us.

March Festivities

March will be the birthday month of my girls. Siena started celebrating her birthday with cupcakes for her preschool and Grandma came to visit.

101 cookie cutters. They love making cookies with Grandma. Such a fun kit.

a butterfly t shirt!

Making flower and butterfly mini cupcakes for school. She was so excited to decorate and share them all. Then she got a crown at school that she wore around all day. It was a very fun day.

Grandma came down for Friday and Saturday. Friday night we went to Rhodesides Grill to see Heathers Headache perform. It was really fun. Grandma and I decided to go home around 11 and went to find our car. Apparently we parked our car in a garage that closes at 10. Why a parking garage closes so early on a weekend is beyond us but we didn't read the sign so we had no car. We went back to the restaurant and listened until Dave was done. Luckilly the kids were at our friends house and we weren't paying for a babysitter. We all squished in to the car with all the speakers and equipment and made it home. It was really late and the kids carseats were locked in the car in the parking garage so we decided to leave our kids at our friends house. It made me sad but the kids did great. They slept all the way through the night and were so excited to wake up at their friends house. They had a great time. It was a good practice run in case I go in to labor at 1 in the morning. So it all worked out in the end and we have Grandmas car back, it just made the night a little more memorable.