4th Of July anyone...

4th of July pictures are a little late...but I'm sure you understand why! Wow how you forget what a newborn does to anything you want to do! I have so many things I need to get done and plan to do, but I guess Cole has other plans.

Back to the 4th of July! We have made it a tradition to go to my dad's up at Lake Tapps and enjoy the fireworks there. It was perfect this year with a newborn knowing it would be low key at his house, since he was out of town and there are bedrooms to lay the kids down if they get tired and he has big windows so we can watch from inside if we need to. I love being able to spend time up at his house and enjoy all the lake has to offer. I was sad my parents weren't there, they were in Israel for 3 weeks but glad we could still use his house. I love that even though my parents weren't there my grandparents were, since they live there... it's always great to see them.

Megs and I w/ baby Cole Tim, Sheila, Mary and TJ getting ready to eat some dinner! They guys hanging outsideRailene and Chase "Man"
The Ladies!Loren, Natty and MaxTJ and Kaley
Say "Cheese"

This picture cracks me up...Ben with his hand on his hip. The 3 of them look like they are having a serious conversation!
Thank you Max for being prepared for safety!!!
Cutie pie cousin Ben
Tim and Sheila brought the headphones for Ben and the kids loved them. Good thinking!
The kids...and my toes too!

It's always fun relaxing with friends and family on the 4th. Maybe we will see some of you up there next year! All are welcome. Happy 4th...we enjoyed it!

A picnic in the park!

My dear friend Andrea always has fun ideas...like going to the park for a picnic. You do what you did as a kid with your kids and she did a lot of picnics...me on the other hand...not so much. I love the idea of getting the kids out and having a a fun day at the park and eating our lunch. A quick drive to our local restaurant and off we went. Max had a great time enjoying the beach and the people at the park. It's so fun to see your kids enjoying their day!
Max eating his ice cream after lunch! He barely ate much of it...I have a lot to teach him about eating all your ice cream...who's kid is he...not finishing it???
Cole and I enjoying ourselves...well maybe more me.
A little better...many emotions for the babies!
Even when they aren't happy they are so cute!
Happy camper.

I can't wait to get a good camera. I had a little photo session w/ Cole trying to capture a picture for his announcements! I got a couple...I think! I also want to say how blessed we are to live in a beautiful place...I love where we live and I love that we are a mile away from the water and can enjoy it all. What a great place for Max and Cole to grow up in. LOVE IT!

10pm-4am! Nice, Thank YOU COLE!

As any parent with a new baby knows sleep is very limited for a while! Trying to go to sleep when baby does and not stay up to do random things is hard for me, but crucial. You don't realize how tired you are until you lay down! Cole has been a good sleeper for the most part, as in...he eats and then goes back to sleep. He for sure knows his nights from days...THANK YOU! Last night we went (Cole & I) to sleep around 9:30 and finally actually fell asleep at 10pm and to my surprise he didn't wake up to eat until around 4am! Wow...it felt so good to get about 6 hours of good sleep! He didn't wake up until about 8:30am but that was really due to me grabbing him when Max got up so we could go down stairs. I'm not thinking this will be happening every night, but one night of a good amount of sleep is WONDERFUL! Max was a great sleeper and from the looks of it Cole could be too. Hope so! Just thought I would share this exciting news with you!

Birthing story below most recent post...

Just thought you would want to know...plus pictures! I started the post before the most recent one, but didn't finish it until after so that is why it is below. Enjoy...

A Day at the lake and some other random pictures!

Well today is my first day all by myself with 2 kids. So far so good! I think we are going to go down to the park and enjoy another SUNNY day here in Washington! I love the sun. These pictures are from a week or so ago so I will download some more and post some later this week. Cole is growing and changing and I'm really trying to enjoy every moment. He sleeps well and wakes up a couple time a night. The last few nights has been sleeping a for longer stretches which is SO helpful for me! Wow it's amazing how broken up sleep really makes you tired. Max is adjusting well, but Loren has been home so we will see how it goes now that no one is here. My mom is coming this Saturday for week to help out which will be nice.

My fears of 2 children are gone and I'm actually really excited about our life with 2 boys and all that is ahead of us.

Time with daddy is always fun!
Little Cole feet

Loren getting ready to cut Max's hair.

A day at the lake always takes me back to my childhood and I MISS it so much. I loved living on the lake and swimming all summer long, rain or shine. My dad is gone for 3 weeks so on one of the very hot days we decided to go up and relax. Max swam with Loren for a long time and Cole and I relaxed and enjoyed the weather.
Just Max
My view...love it!!!

Finally...Coles Birth!

Coles story of how he arrived... We didn't start taking pictures until I was admitted and had my epidural...I don't think you would want pictures of me without the epidural! Wow, I LOVE EPIDURAL!
Max came to say "HI" after mommy got her WONDERFUL epidural!

Ok, lets start from the beginning! Friday morning at 4:30 am I had a little water break, but no contractions. It wasn't a lot of water but for sure something. This happened last time to me when I went into labor with Max and when I got to the hospital and they check if my water has broken, it hasn't. My mom had the same thing happen in her birthing experiences too...something called the for-sak? (SP?). So we called the hospital and they said to head on in and we took our time and got there around 7am or so. I started having mild contractions but nothing painful. I was only dilated to a 2 so they wanted me to walk around to see if I progressed at all, but after a couple hours nothing changed. My doctor even had me get a full ultrasound to waste some time, which was fun. I was contracting on a regular basis but no change so I couldn't be admitted to the hospital. Not to mention that they were way understaffed due to A LOT of babies being born. We went home to labor at 11:30am which was a little scary because my only gage on when to come back is pain since my contractions were 3-5 minutes a part already. I went to my friend Andrea's house, she lives on the water which was a beautiful place to labor for a bit. Loren was timing them and they were coming every 2 minutes a part and were getting more intense. We headed back to the hospital at 3pm and I was for sure in labor but only dilated to a 3 and my first request was "I want on the list for the epidural...STAT". After getting hooked up I got into the tub and labored there for I don't know how long, but too long because the pain got a lot worse and knowing that I had to sit through the epidural was scaring me, not because of the needle but because they tell you "Sit still, don't move and Relax"...now keep in mind...you are in the worst PAIN of your LIFE and they are dealing with your SPINE that could possibly paralyze you if you move at all...GREAT...yah, really thrilling, but whatever I have to do to get rid of the pain...DO IT! So I have to say that was probably the worst part of the whole labor and if you have been there and done that...you know what I'm talking about. After the epidural I was at an 8 and shortly after that was at a 10 and ready to push. I pushed for 20 minutes compared to 1-1/2 with Maxwell and Cole was born.

We are ready!

It was a wonderful experience, though there was some serious, crazy pain, but what labor would be without that? I feel very lucky to have such great pregnancy's and labors...no complications.

Here are some of the pictures throughout our stay.

The last few pictures of the Ellingson family as 3!

First few minutes of meeting Cole...wonderful!

Not too thrilled in this picture. It must be hard having to go through what he did!
Loving being on this side of labor...

Our beautiful baby Cole!
Dr. Nelson...was so happy she got to deliver Cole!
Max meeting baby brother
Moms job...staring at her new bundle of JOY!

Cutie...
Max spending some time with baby brother!
Sweet picture...
Look familiar? Like Maxwells going home picture...
On our way home...the New and Improved Ellingson Family!