Rachel Brooke Tomlinson has arrived

We just wanted to let everyone know that baby Rachel Brooke Tomlinson was born today at 3:41 pm. She weighed in at 7 lbs 15.5 ounces and was 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great. I forgot the camera at the hospital so we'll have to put up pictures tomorrow. If you are interested you can go to this website and see a picture the hospital took. It is: http://saintalphonsus.netreturns.biz/Nursery and the password is 87305. She's a cutie. Everything went well. Megan had to push for a 1/2 hour and when she came out her cord was wrapped around her neck two times. But she went from a dark purple to a normal color as soon as the doctor unwrapped the cord. Rachel has big eyes and loves to stay awake. She didn't close her eyes for a few hours after being born. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. Sorry we don't have more pictures right now, but I promise some tomorrow.

The good, the bad, and the baby...

So, the fabulous news is that we are having a baby on Thursday, June 26! We are being induced a day or two shy of 40 weeks... alelulia!

The not-so-fabulous news is that John was laid off from his job last week. There were some major cuts at his company and nearly his entire department was let go (about 22 of the 25 people). We expected to be cut since John is their newest employee, but there were some folks that were laid off that had been there forever. I really feel for them. Certainly not the best news for a family about to add another baby to the mix, but we have faith that things will work out. In the meantime, John is home and he doesn't have to worry about taking too much time for family leave since he doesn't have a job to rush off to! :) We are trying not to stress out about the unemployment-- we have more important things to focus on... our new baby girl!!

No baby yet...

Okay, I have resigned myself to the fact that I am never going to have this baby. I don't know what it is about this little girl, but she's a stubborn one! Sure, I am only 38 weeks and some women have to wait another month, but I'm impatient (and obviously spoiled to have an early baby last time...) and want this little girl to join us now! :) John and I have been doing the, "is today going to be the day?" conversation for the past several weeks, but we're done. No more talk of when the baby is coming. My new mental due date is Christmas. If the baby is born before Christmas, I'll be happy. Obviously, I'm exaggerating (somewhat) but I have decided that if I think about the impending arrival anymore, then I will suffer a nervous breakdown. :) That's my update.

I hope that everyone is doing well!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANNY BOY!!

Yup, our little boy is officially TWO! Where did the time go? He seems so grown up to me... He really isn't my "baby boy" anymore. For D's birthday, we decided to go to the Boise Zoo, throw rocks in the Boise River, eat french fries, take a nap, and decorate/eat cake. The day was perfect! There were a couple of scares at the Zoo, but Daniel is recovering... (so's his Daddy-- my boys are such wusses!) We really had a great time spending the day together. Here's some photos of the fun.

35 weeks... YEAH!!

I'm celebrating two things... One, I made it 35 weeks! For those that remember, I had Daniel at 34 weeks 2 days or something like that, so John and I were pretty excited to make it to 35 weeks. Unfortunately, we now feel like this pregnancy is taking forever and we still have five weeks to go! We're trying to talk baby girl into coming around 36 or 37 weeks. That would work great for us...




The second thing that I'm celebrating is... I got a haircut! Yup, needed to get rid of my horse mane that goes up into a ponytail know matter the occasion. When I went in, I was pretty vague about what I wanted, just a lot shorter, somewhere between my shoulders and chin. I asked if I had enough to donate to "Locks of Love" and by golly, I sure did! The hair lady convinced me into getting an A-line cut, which looked a lot better when she did it than these pictures show, but you get the idea right? I am actually really enjoying it! I use so much less shampoo, it doesn't take 24 hours to air dry (since I never use a blow dryer), and I can still put some of it into a half pony to get it out of my eyes. I was just so proud of myself for cutting it so short! Daniel told me when I got home, "Mama pretty" and John says that he loves it (he's just elated that he's not going to find "Megan hair" all over the house-- not easy to hide when hair is SO LONG!). Who else matters, right? :)






A completely unrelated picture, but this one's for you, Mom...

Our boy of the elements...

With the warmer weather, we have found ourselves enjoying the park (Earth) and the sprinklers (Water) and the barbeque (Fire) and strolls around the neighborhood (Wind)... Okay, so some of those were a stretch, but I snapped a couple of shots of Danny boy enjoying the dirt and the water and thought that I'd share them. Please note that "Popeye" still appears in nearly every smile, therefore I am choosing to snatch candids instead... :) Enjoy!

33 Weeks... and looking lovely!

I'm joking about the lovely part, but just thought that I'd throw up a prego pick for your viewing pleasure...

Notice Daniel's "Popeye" smile. That's what we get when we ask D to smile on demand. He's a pretty cute kid.

DO NOT ENTER!! DANGER ZONE!!

With billions of thanks to my dad, we put in new wood laminate flooring in our entry way and kitchen. Previously, we had ugly linoleum in the kitchen and this nasty wood parque (sp?) flooring in the entry. I can't describe to you how much I hated the flooring. We were going to just deal with the ugliness until my dad volunteered to be our manpower and mentor for the new laminate (since John nor I had any idea what it would entail). We couldn't pass it up! :) Ironically, I think that if my dad knew how much work it would be, then he would have kept his mouth shut before volunteering. Thanks PA!!!!

Here are some pics of the work. We love the new floor and the continuity of the space. I don't know if we're going to take on any other projects for awhile... (or at least until the baby is 6 months old!!)

Chalk Buster!

We're currently under construction at the Tomlinson home, so we have taken to the outdoors while we make a mess of the house... (More pictures to come on the flooring project) Daniel loves being outside, unfortunately, his fat pregnant mother would rather not. This is where sidewalk chalk comes in. Big D loves chalking it up outside. He is pretty fluent with his colors so he loves to show me which color he's using and what he's drawing "usually BIG CIRCLE". I just love the classic image of the "toddler squat". There is something about those chubby legs. And while Danny chalks it up, I get to sit on the front step. Life is good... :)