Kyla's 2 weeks old. She now weights 8 lbs 3 ozs. and 20 inches long. It's amazing how much they change in two short weeks. Since we have had Kyla we have had a lot of family visit which means lots of help and lots of fun. For the past two weeks we've had visitors everyday and I can honestly say I'm kind of bored now. My parents came for 3 weeks and now I'm missing my personal nanny and chef and now I'm asking myself, "what's for dinner, and who's gonna do the dishes?" Something I haven't had to worry about all month. Leanne and Bruce came for a few days and helped watch the kids and wash all the girl clothes and go to doc. visits. Chelsea and Leanne came down for a day and a half and we played with the kids at the pool and fat man's crack. My Brother Tim, Lindsey and their boys came and Jared and Krista came as well which means more swimming and fun with cousins. It was so fun to see everyone one and we are so glad that they all got a chance to meet our sweet baby, and so glad we got some extra help. Come back, we're bored!!!!

BIRTH STORY
On August 11th a week and a half before my due date I went into the doc. office and had my membranes stripped for the second time. Dr. Thompson and I decided that it was a good day to have a baby. He didn't work the next day and I just really wanted to have a baby. I was dialated to a 4 so he said at the sign of any contraction to go to the hospital to see if they would admit me. For the first couple hours there was nothing. My mom and I went to pick Ty up from his first day of school and we were a little early so we walked around the school a few times. When we got home we went for a walk and walked and walked. A few contractions started to come but only as pain in my back. By the evening they gradually got closer together and were just a few minutes apart but still it was just in my back and not to painful, it was about 8:30 and we had put the kids to bed and then Justin gave me a blessing and then we called our cousins Alise and Zed to come hold down the fort. When we got to the hospital the nurse checked me and said the baby was posterior which is why I was experiencing back pain. She watched the contractions for about an hour on the monitor while she decided whether she was going to admit me. They got farther apart but more intense. Around 1O p.m. she called the Dr. and he said to keep me. I knew he would and I was so glad because I didn't want to go home and have to come right back. At around midnight I was ready for an epidural, which is heavenly people, heavenly. I have loved all of my delivery's and would deliver a baby for someone everyday if I could. I love to sit back and relax and watch the miracle happen. The epidural was slowing down the contractions and the baby was not turning or dropping down so they decided to put me on the pit. This got thing going and around 3:30 they called the doc. to come in. He hung out with us and the nurse for an hour in the room and we all just had a nice chat. The nurse was so nice and had worked for the doc. so they had a nice time chatting as well. Then all the sudden I needed to throw-up. Kind of embarrassing throwing up in front of a room full of people. By then I was fully dilated and ready to deliver at around 4:30 he said that the baby still was posterior but he could try to turn it while I pushed. So I pushed for a few pushes while he turned it and at 4:39 a.m. the baby came right out. Although it has always been so fun to see my little babies for the first time, this time was so different. We didn't know what we were having so the excitement in the room was very high. The nurses and doctors and my parents were in the room and had all placed their votes on the board. It was tied 50/50. Justin and I stayed neutral because we felt it could go either way, we switched from day to day. The doc. said he thought it was a boy because the heart beat had always been slow. And then there was the Chinese birth calendar which said girl and was right on all my other kids, so I was torn. We were going to be thrilled either way, so when the baby came out and the cord was covering the privates we all took a breath and there it was A GIRL! So fun!! My mom was in disbelief since she had all boy stuff that she would need to return. She weighed 7 lb. 7 ozs. which is almost a pound bigger then our other babies and it is all in her cheeks and double chin, oh but they are oh so yummy. The first thing Justin said was, "we don't have a name!" We hadn't really picked out a name for a girl. We had thrown around a few but never really settled on one for one reason or another. So when she was born and looked just like her brother Ty when he was born the name Kyla seemed to fit her best. Our neighbor's little sister's name is Kyla and I loved it the moment I heard it. They put her on my chest for skin to skin contact right after she was born and then they waited a little bit to cut the cord. A few hours later Justin got up and went to work for a few hours my parents went back to our house to watch the kids and then Justin's parents drove down and came to the hospital to see her. And then we checked out at 10 that night. I think we were there a total of 18 hours, the minimum amount of time they want you there. We didn't want to stay any longer then we needed too.

Although having a surprise was a blast I don't know that I would do it again. It made for a really long pregnancy and the planner/organizer in me who said I would never do that (eating my words) had a really hard time. And those last few days just about drove me nuts! But what a neat experience! We are so happy to have her in our family. Two boys, two girls, we couldn't be happier. I'm glad Taycie got a sister, something that I wished I had. And she loves HER baby. When she walked in the the hospital room she said, "That's MY baby!"

I love little babies, the smell of their little heads, their little toes, the way they breathe when they sleep on your chest, the way they stretch their little arms and curl up their legs. LOVE IT! We love her so much, and we already can't remember what life was like without her! Welcome to the world Kyla. We are glad you are part of our family!

Kyla Traveller

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's a GIRL!

Life doesn't get any more dreamy then this!

Today is my due date, yet we've been enjoying this little surprise for the past twelve days. On August 12th Kyla joined our family and we can't get enough of her!

More to come...

They're coming to America!

Justin's parents have been serving as a mission president in the Japan Nagoya mission for the past 3 years. On July 6th they returned home. As you can imagine we were all excited to see them.

All the gradkids. They sure grew since they last saw them.

They're here!

Hugging Grandpa for the first time!

Aren't they cute!
Family at the Homecoming dinner.
All their kids and grandkids!
These were all the missionaries from their mission in Japan that attended their Homecoming. They gave such great talks, it was a great Homecoming. They have some amazing stories to share and learned a lot. We are so grateful for their example and we are so glad to have them back in the states.