So let's say that your child has stayed home from school (or another activity) or come home from school/activity because of sickness. Now, would you let that child go over to a friend's house to play? I wouldn't, but apparently the neighbor mom doesn't feel the same. A little after 1 p.m. the doorbell rang and it was the older neighbor girl. She was only too happy to announce that she wasn't at school because she was sick and that her mom wouldn't let her go outside until she took medicine and could Accalia and Cole play and could she hold Tylan? Oh, and could she play inside? She didn't seem sick, but maybe she has a bit of a cold or had an upset stomach or something. Still, if you're sick enough to stay home from something, don't come over and spread those germs around us! That's really thoughtless of the mom IMO.

Other than that, today was a busy day with Cole's tumbling class (he loved) and Accalia's gymnastics class (she loved). Apparently all of my children love that dance studio and the teachers. Ella started crying when we left so Cole's class could start, and Tylan was held by two of the instructors and couldn't stop smiling and cooing.

It feels as if we've been out of the house more than in it today, which isn't a bad thing. It just means that nothing has gotten done and it really needs to get down. I'd be horrified to have visitors in this house right now.

While there are many things we miss by living in a small town (around 13,000) like Yankton, we definitely don't miss large amounts of violent crime. Unfortunately, that happened here Sunday afternoon when a 58 year old man allegedly (he called 911 to report the shooting and confess) shot and killed three people at an apartment complex. One of the victims lived in the same complex as the shooter, and the other two were friends of the one. The man apparently was waiting for them as they got off the elevator and shot them each multiple times. There are rumors that this was all because of the one victim playing loud music. The other two victims were planning to be married on Monday, and now they're reporting that one of the victims was pregnant. In a town the size of Yankton, it's hard to have something like this happen and not be affected personally. The one victim who lived in the complex was the son of Cory's boss at the community mental health center when he worked there.

So that seems to be what's on everyone's mind around here. In the meantime, life goes on for the rest of us as normal. That apparently means I'm going to bed increasingly late and waking up earlier and earlier. Last night was horrible with Ella. I'm not sure what was going on, but she went to bed rather early and woke up crying every half hour or so. I brought her downstairs, which didn't help, and finally took her back up. She was past the waking and crying for the rest of the night but was still up frequently.

Yesterday we went over to visit friends in the morning and to meet their new guinea pig. Accalia and Cole have decided we need a guinea pig now. Accalia had her first ballet class of the new year, and this morning Cole has his first tumbling class. Then Accalia has gymnastics later today. Monday and Tuesday are the dance studio days around here.

I guess I should try to get myself, Ella and Tylan ready since we're up.

Tylan is starting to become more interested (for very short periods of time) in things other than just nursing and sleeping. When she wakes up for one of her alert periods, she'll actively seek me out to coo at and smile at and try to see if anyone else is nearby. She smiles at Cory and the other kids, too. Her fussy periods in the evening are also becoming less frequent. It's not as if they last very long (usually), and I've been through this with three other children all around the same age. It's just nice to see that she's moving past whatever developmental phase is causing it all.

Yesterday evening Ella had her first bee sting - first of any of the kids - and was not a happy camper. Thankfully she didn't see to have any sort of bad reaction to it, although I've heard that it's the second sting that usually is when a bad reaction will appear. She had been outside with the other kids and came inside crying. I could see a red spot right below her eye and saw something black sticking out. At first I thought she may have gotten a little thorn stuck in her skin, but we quickly figured out it was a bee stinger.

Tomorrow Cole is the only one having a soccer game. Accalia's was postponed until Thursday because there was a lack of referees. Cole's age group doesn't use referees, so he's good to go. Next week is the final week for fall soccer. I'm assuming both kids will want to sign up again in the spring since they both enjoyed it so much.

Okay, time to get ready for bed so I'll be able to get up in the morning!

In the early afternoon, I could tell that there were several things going on that would quickly lead me to be a very cranky person.
1) It was a rather warm and humid day, and without the air on I was getting very uncomfortable.
2) The living room needed vacuuming and the kitchen and dining room floors needed sweeping because one of the kids had tracked in some sand.
3) There was an electronic game hiding somewhere that was turned on and beeping and I couldn't find it.
4) I really, really wanted an iced coffee but hadn't gotten one in the morning as originally planned (in my mind).

So, I closed up the house and turned on the air. Then I vacuumed and swept. Then I found that damn game beeping in a closet underneath a pile of board games. Then I changed Tylan's diaper, piled the kids into the van and went to get that iced coffee. Isn't it nice when you decide to take those simple steps to turn around your mood rather than just letting it grow darker and darker? I know I'm guilty of sometimes not wanting to take that time or use that energy and would rather stew in whatever negative energy is swirling around.

In fact, sometimes lately I feel as if I'm much, much too negative - sometimes out loud and sometimes just in my mind. So, as a way to turn that around, I'm going to list one lovely thing about each of my children that happened today:

Accalia - Today she bought something that she'd been saving up for and let Ella play with it for a while when she really wanted to have it all to herself.

Cole - There were a couple flies buzzing around the house, and Cole killed both of them with a fly swatter. Then he left them on the floor and stood watch because he thought the dead flies would attract any other flies that might come to try to rescue them. I love how his mind works.

Ella - Whenever she gets out of the van, she always stops to plant a kiss on Tylan's head and say "hiya!" as she passes by.

Tylan - She's starting to grab things with her hands in that flailing, lucky to have made the connection newborn way, and she'll grab onto me when I shift her around. I love how snuggly that feels.

It's getting late and I should eventually start getting ready for bed, I guess.

Thought I'd post a quick update while the three older kids are watching a DVD and Tylan is sleeping in the sling.

We had a very nice weekend in Mankato and made it back Monday (my 32nd birthday). It was a busy weekend as usual with lots of time spent with the cousins. There are also two girls that live across the street from my parents, and they come over to play when the kids are there. On Saturday, eleven of the grandchildren on the Eibs' side had their picture taken, and we all actually survived! It was quite the crowd.

Tylan did a pretty good job of traveling. It was easier on the way home when we left in the morning and traveled during the time of day where she's usually napping more. Even though Tylan still sleeps the majority of the time, she's definitely past the immediate newborn phase of falling asleep no matter where she is. If she's been awake and alert, she wants to be walked around in the sling to fall asleep. Kind of hard to do driving in the van!

Yes, at five weeks old Tylan already seems so big in some ways. She's outgrown the newborn sizes of her diaper covers and the few pieces of clothing she had in that size. When she wants to stand up, she'll stiffen her body as if she's trying to stand up herself until I hold her up. Then she'll try to bounce with her feet so I move her up and down.

So much to do at home and I'm once again far behind on emails. Cory is working a lot this week and weekend, so I won't have the luxury of a second adult around much of the time to help out with the things I'm behind on. There's not a lot going on this week. Both Accalia and Cole have soccer practice, Accalia has art, and only Cole has a soccer game this weekend. Next week classes at the dance studio start up for Accalia and Cole.

We need to pack today for our trip to Mankato, and I'm really not that excited about the task. I'm sure it will go more quickly than I imagine. We're not leaving until later in the afternoon tomorrow, too, so we won't have to rush around in the morning. Look at me, I'm trying to psych myself up!

Cole has soccer practice tonight, and Cory will be around for that. So he'll either take Cole by himself or we'll all go and hang out at the soccer fields. We may end up doing that just so I can take a break from the neighbor girls. It's better now that they're in school and have to go in earlier, but spending the day in school doesn't always help out their moods. I think it would make a big difference if they came home from school and just sat inside their own house for a little bit, relaxing, having a snack, etc. That usually doesn't happen unless the older one has homework to do before she can go outside. Otherwise they rush out the second they come home.

Accalia had a soccer game on Tuesday, so the kids and I headed to that since Cory had counseling appointments. An old acquaintance from LLL was also there since her daughter was playing on the other team. We hadn't seen each other in more than a year, so it was nice to catch up. She has a new baby, too - a four-month-old girl.

Tylan has fallen back to sleep now so I'm going to try to get a shower in if she can stay asleep for a few minutes.

Tylan has been in a very conversational mood today. Normally her noises are more of the "I'm hungry, I'm tired, I want my brother or sister to stop kissing my head" grunting variety, but when she's awake and alert and content, she'll just stare at you and almost perfectly mimic a conversational tone of voice and make sounds that are similar to "hi". The other kids love that. Cole is just eager for her to do new things. When I mentioned today that Tylan is four weeks old, Cole asked if she'd start crawling next week.

Yesterday I was knocked down by the same stomach virus that Accalia had Sunday afternoon/night. I woke up early in the morning and just knew I was going to be sick. Thankfully it's a fairly fast moving virus, and the worst of it (the vomiting) only lasts 4-5 hours. I was so tired, though, and could barely stay awake when I wasn't running to the bathroom or changing a diaper or getting food for someone. I called Cory around noon to see if he could come home early (first time I've ever done that), and he was able to get home within a couple hours. It would have been sooner but he still had to do rounds before heading out. So once he got home, I took Tylan and headed upstairs to sleep for a couple hours. That helped so much, and I was actually able to keep food down by the end of the day. I just really hope that Cole and Cory stay healthy and that everyone is in good shape for our weekend in Mankato.

Mel, a big duh from me for not even thinking of trying out boys jeans on Ella! I dug out a couple old pairs of Cole's and they fit almost perfectly! So that's taken care of.

I'm trying to catch up on laundry and especially getting it put away. Accalia has a soccer game tonight, but Cory won't be able to make it since he has appointments.

While there always seem to be reasons to not be satisfied with life, I'm counting my blessings and holding them close to me. A woman I've worked with in LLL over the past few years lost her husband to a massive heart attack. I'm not sure of her husband's age, but I'm assuming it's the about the same as hers (late 30s, early 40s).

Thankfully, our lives have been pretty uneventful over the weekend. Yesterday the kids were so excited to see a huge, double rainbow in the afternoon. Today, while Cory was working just a few hours at the pizza place, we dropped in so his boss could meet Tylan. Apparently she's been asking quite often about being able to see the baby. Later in the afternoon, as we were getting ready to all go together to pick up a few groceries, Accalia declared that her stomach hurt and she felt like throwing up. So Cory stayed at home with her (she loves it to be just the two of them because they sit and play video games together), and I took the other three to get a few groceries. Accalia did indeed throw up and has continued over the course of the evening. She's been in bed since around 7 p.m.

Now I think I'll see about getting Cole, Tylan and myself to bed.

It was another busy Saturday morning. Cole had a soccer game at 9 a.m. and Accalia at 10:15 a.m. It had rained for part of the night and I wasn't sure if they would want to play games on the wet fields, but the fields were full when we arrived. I was only able to see Cole's game because I had to leave for La Leche League. Ella (and Tylan, of course) came with me while Cole and Cory cheered Accalia's team on. Two mothers attended the meeting, including one whose fourth baby arrived on Cole's birthday (Sept. 3).

Cory works for a bit today. Accalia and Cole have been outside playing with the older neighbor girl for much of the afternoon. I think tonight we're probably just going to hang out and watch a movie.

I'm still on a quest to find a pair of jeans that will actually fit Ella. I found a place online that sells jeans that fit over cloth diapers and should be roomier than the slim jeans every other store seems to sell, but unfortunately the size Ella needs was out of stock. I usually don't even bother looking for jeans for Ella since she's never fit into them as an infant or toddler, but on Saturday in Mankato all of the grandchildren on my side of the family are getting their picture taken together, and my younger brother suggested all of the kids were blue jeans and white shirts. Sure, that sounds simple enough, doesn't it? It's not as if Ella is abnormally large. She's definitely more solid than any of my other kids and doesn't have the tiny thighs or bottoms that they do. I may have found a pair from Kmart that will work, but I have to exchange the pair I bought to see if a larger size will be okay. Ella fits into a 3T for the length, but this particular brand has 3T fitting 28-33 pounds, which is way too slim for Ella. Ella's about 37 pounds right now.

Yesterday turned out to be rather eventful for both Cory and myself. A while before Accalia had soccer practice, the kids and I decided to head to the store to look for dress shoes for Cole and Accalia. About half a mile from the store, Ella started throwing up all over herself and her car seat. Of course I didn't even have wipes in the van (since I'm apparently extremely organized), but I managed to get Ella stripped of her clothes and cleaned up, and we headed back home. Over the course of the next few hours, Ella threw up three more times. I have no clue what was causing her to be so sick, but it only lasted for that time and then she was fine.

Since I really didn't want to take Ella to soccer practice if I could help it, I tried to call Cory to see if he could come home early, but he wasn't answering his cell phone. Turns out he had it off because he was in the middle of doing a cell entry with an inmate who was on suicide watch but somehow had a razor and was cutting all over himself. Cory didn't actually enter the cell but left that up to the guards who were in riot gear and used a shield to knock the inmate down. Apparently there hasn't been a cell entry in the past eight years at that prison.

Anyway, the kids and I took Accalia to soccer practice. Ella fell asleep right away. I drove to get an iced coffee for myself and an ice cream cone for Cole, and we drove back to the park to sit in the van and talk while Accalia practiced and Ella and Tylan snoozed. At least that part of the day was relaxing.

Still haven't gotten around to shoe shopping, but maybe we'll do that tomorrow. Cole has soccer practice in the evening as long as it's not raining.

More pictures of the kids...






Yesterday I woke up feeling so achy, but I don't think I'm getting sick. I think I just slept in a really poor position. I shouldn't complain about our nights at all, though. If I didn't get up to change Tylan's diaper once during the night, I probably wouldn't get up at all. She'll stir when she wants to nurse or shift positions, but at this point I don't have to get out of bed with her because she's wide awake or fussy. Of course, that will change in an instant.

Tylan has had some fussy evenings lately, and last night Accalia kept asking what was wrong. I explained that even if the diaper's dry, the belly's full, etc., sometimes babies will just cry a little bit. Once I had Tylan back in the sling and moving around, she was out almost instantly. Tylan does seem to be a rather gassy baby and spits up a bit more than Ella or Accalia did, so that might cause her some discomfort every now and then.

The other kids are doing great. The majority of the adjusting that Ella has been going through seems to have been taken care of within the past week. Not that she doesn't still have her moments, but one day last week she woke up and was back to her old self with much less clinging and whining. We'll see if this continues.

Accalia has soccer practice tonight, and we have a few errands to run, but that's about it for today. I've been feeling extremely unmotivated, although I did catch up on all thank you's that needed to be written.

Tylan's awake and not interested in sitting still at the computer, so I'm going to get moving.

Today was the first Saturday morning of soccer games for the fall season. Cole had a 9 a.m. game, and Accalia had a 10:15 a.m. game. It was pretty cool for Cole's game - around 50 degrees - but it was fun watching all of the little ones running around trying to remember the correct goal towards which to kick the ball. It was warmer by Accalia's game - around 60 degrees - and Accalia seemed to have a lot of fun even though she didn't get a whole lot of time on the field. The kids will have games at the same time next Saturday, and there will be a total of three practices during the week.

This afternoon were tryouts for The Nutcracker, which Accalia had been looking forward to for a while. We got there at the time her age group was supposed to be trying out, and the school (tryouts were at the middle school) was filled with dancers of all ages. As we registered, one lady told us they were running about a half hour behind schedule. But, after sitting around for about an hour, we finally heard them calling for the age group that was supposed to try out about three hours before. We hung around for another half hour, sitting around with friends, before Accalia was accidentally hit in the mouth with a friend's knee. She had a bloody mouth, started crying and eventually decided she didn't want to sit around and wait another couple hours to try out, so we left. I don't blame her for not wanting to wait that long. I wonder if it runs that far behind every time or if this was out of the ordinary.

Ella needs a diaper change and has started screaming about something, so I need to stop.

Life is absolutely crazy right now. There's not enough time to get anything done, it seems, which is probably why our house looks like it's ready to host several archeological digs. We're all doing fairly well, though, and continuing to slowly adjust to Tylan's arrival. It feels like a tough adjustment to me. It's not that it's hard adjusting to caring for a newborn again, although it's certainly quite time consuming. It's just really hard trying to balance the needs of three other children, especially a two-year-old who definitely has her moments of showing she's having a rather rough time. It's much easier when Cory is at home and there's one of us who can fully devote ourselves to Ella (being able to carry her without a baby in the sling is a big one, it seems). It makes envy those families where both partners are at home!

Since I blogged last Friday, there have been a few things going on. The weekend was kind of a wash with Cory working so much. I guess the highlight would have been the kids and I having another movie night and watching the newest Little Mermaid movie out on dvd. They really enjoyed that.

Cory was home on Monday because of the holiday, and the most I remember from that was doing the grocery shopping. Oh, we also finished watching last season of Prison Break so we could watch this season's premiere on Monday, so that was our big accomplishment.

Tylan had her two-week check up with the pediatrician on Tuesday and is doing great. She weighs 8 lbs. 12 oz. (gained nearly a pound since leaving the hospital) and is 21 inches long (1 inch gain).

Yesterday was Cole's 6th birthday. He wanted to go up to Sioux Falls for the day, so we also got a chance to see how Tylan would travel on a longer trip. She did great, and I hope she does fairly well when we travel to Mankato in a couple weeks. We went to Chuck E. Cheese, and the older kids and Cory had a blast. Then we caught a matinee of Wall*E, which we all really liked. After that, we went to Toy R Us because there was something there that Cole wanted to spend his birthday money on. It was a really nice birthday for Cole, and I think we were all exhausted by the end of it.

Soccer is starting up this week for Accalia and Cole. Accalia had her first practice on Tuesday, and Cole has his tonight. Both kids have games on Saturday morning, but thankfully they're at different times. Accalia also has try outs for the Nutcracker Ballet Saturday afternoon. I was really hoping Cory wouldn't be working yet so he could keep Cole and Ella with him, but that's not going to happen.

Still have to get pictures off the camera. I'll try to do that soon.

Today definitely didn't start off too great, and it ended up taking more than half the day before everyone seemed to be in decent moods. Ella was just miserable for most of the morning, crying about nearly every thing that happened. I battled a near migraine most of the day, too, which definitely didn't enhance any patience I had. We've all survived, though, and are in much better moods.

Cory is working tonight, the kids had about two hours of play with the neighbors, and now everyone is either watching videos (Accalia and Cole), walking around wearing a backpack and tiara (Ella) or sleeping in the sling (Tylan). I've been doing some straightening up since I basically just sat around most of the day.

Monday will be Cory's last day at home, and that makes me sad. It's been so nice having him around so much, and it's not even because of the help he gives around the house or with the kids. We normally don't have very much time at all just to hang out and relax together, so we've been doing things like trying to watch the past season of Prison Break before the new season starts.

So Cory will go back to work on Tuesday, but he'll take Wednesday off since that's Cole's birthday. We're going up to Sioux Falls to Chuck E. Cheese and then to see Wall*E at the cheap theater.

That's about it from here. I'll try to post more pictures soon.

August is a very busy month as far as birthdays and anniversaries go among our friends and family, and with Tylan's arrival in the thick of it all I'm afraid I've neglected to send birthday and anniversary wishes to many people. I should manage to do better next year, though. Cory and I celebrated our 11th anniversary last Saturday, and by celebrating I mean it was good that we even remembered it this year. Yesterday would have been Mary's 62nd birthday.

Things are going fine. It's just busy, busy, busy adjusting to life with four children and trying to function on less sleep and still recover from childbirth. I suppose once you've had four children most people just figure it's rather run of the mill and easy enough to adjust to compared with welcoming your first baby. It is in some ways, I suppose. Actually, caring for newborn Tylan is a breeze. It's making sure the other three have their needs met and don't feel left out or overshadowed by their new sibling that is more difficult.

At nine days old, Tylan is certainly more aware than she was at the start, and the kids appreciate that little bit. They love that she'll turn toward them when she hears their voices and that she'll try to focus on their faces. I explained to them that newborns usually can't focus beyond a foot at the most during the first month or two (and then it still might be rather blurry), so Cole has been carrying around a ruler so he knows how far away a foot is when he's near Tylan. I love that when Tylan wakes up and sees me that she gets this look on her face that comes pretty close to contentment. She's also trying out that voice of hers more with lots of little coos and grunts. Other than a fussy period last night that lasted about an hour, she's been a happy and content baby so far.

Accalia and Cole are always very excited when 3:30 rolls around and the neighbor girls show up. For the most part, they've been getting along well, although I definitely notice that the girls are more tired and less patient with each other after a day at school. Thankfully they go inside at 7:30 to get ready for bed, so they usually go inside before they're too tired and cranky with everyone.

Both Ella and I are worn out today. She's napping right now, so she's definitely tired. She's been up too early two days in a row, and that's left us both dragging. Hopefully tonight will be one that requires very little from me. Thankfully Cory will be home tonight, too.

Just writing this down for the baby book.

- Tylan's cord stump fell off sometime during the night of the 24th/morning of the 25th.
- Had a short baptism ceremony for Tylan on the 25th while my parents were here since we won't get back to Mankato and our church until late September.

You know, it's hard enough getting enough sleep all of the time with a newborn, but last night we had the fun of discovering a bat flying around upstairs. That definitely cut out any extra sleep we may have gotten. We're not actually sure where it went, but Cory thinks it got trapped in the guest room. Our plan last night was to call animal control this morning, but I don't know if that's what we'll still do. I'm putting in a call to the pediatrician about whether we should be checked out or do anything since this bat probably was flying around while the kids were sleeping. No visible marks on the kids and I rather doubt the bat actually landed on anyone, but I'm a little paranoid, especially with a newborn in the house.

My parents arrived yesterday around 5 p.m. and left today around 1 p.m. So, it was a short trip, but it was very nice having them here. The older kids loved it because Grandma and Grandpa took them for walks and to the park and did all of those energetic running around things that I am not quite up to doing yet. Unfortunately Cory worked almost the entire time they were here except for a couple hours this morning.

Things have been going well, although I can tell I've been up and doing too much. I'm really looking forward to this week and having Cory home except for whatever pizza shifts he'll work. Tomorrow I think we're all going to try a short grocery shopping trip. I haven't left the house since we got home from the hospital on Wednesday, and I'm looking forward to getting out. Hopefully shopping with four children won't be too horrible the first time out.

Tylan continues to be most excellent at all of the things newborns do - eating, sleeping, etc. Today she gave one of those involuntary giggles while asleep, which was very cute. The other kids can't get enough of her yet, and Accalia is always asking if it's time to change her diaper. Wonder how long that will last...I can still tell that Ella's having the hardest time, but that only seems to come out when she's tired. All three kids are really tired today since they had to get up early to be awake for Grandma and Grandpa.

As promised, here are more pictures:

So obviously sleep deprivation is making it difficult for me to completely answer simple questions such as name pronounciation. Sorry, Mel. Tylan's name would be said as tie-luhn.

Unfortunately Cory had to work tonight, so the kids and I have been on our own since a little before 6 p.m. The older three are all finally asleep, but of course Tylan is waking up a bit after a pretty sleepy day. Putting Ella to sleep without the ability to completely focus on her continues to be the most difficult part of this transition for both of us, but I'm confident (when I'm less tired) that it will all work itself out.

Thank you all for the congratulations! We've had a couple people ask how Tylan's name is pronounced - something I hadn't even thought about there being multiple pronounciations - and for those wondering it's a long i with Ty (as in tie your shoes).

We're doing fairly well on day three of having a newborn. Tired but good. I can definitely tell the difference in neediness with the second youngest child being 4-5 months younger than we've usually had when a new baby has arrived. It's a bit more challenging at night with Ella since she doesn't want to accept Cory's comforting if she wakes up, but it's usually easy enough to nurse her (that's usually what she wants) as long as Tylan doesn't start crying. Ella usually wants to nurse whenever she sees Tylan nursing, but that's what the other kids did, too, and I'm sure that will die down after a while.

Tylan continues to be a pretty laid back baby other than not always taking to diaper or clothing changes. For the past two nights, I've attempted to go to sleep early - 9:30ish - when it seems that Tylan is falling asleep, but that hasn't worked out very well. She seems to go through a nursing and semi active phase for a couple hours and then falls into a nursing every hour period until 3 or 4 a.m. Then she goes into deeper sleep and that's when I seem to get the most rest. I have no idea how we'll manage when we can't sleep in a bit in the mornings.

It's been great having Cory at home taking care of so many different things. He does have to deliver pizzas this weekend, but he's going to see about getting out of tonight at least. My parents are coming later tomorrow and staying overnight for a quick visit. The kids are extremely excited about that.

I'll post more pictures soon. Our camera battery died so Cory has to run out and get a new one.

I'm so happy to report that I am no longer pregnant and we are now a family of six! Poor Cole remains the only son now that our third daughter, Tylan Addison, has arrived. She was born yesterday (my due date of August 19!) at 4:55 a.m. weighing 7 lbs. 15 oz. and is 20 inches long. Right now she looks so much like Cole did as a newborn.

Labor was quick and intense. I woke at 2 a.m. with contractions and decided to try to go back to sleep or at least rest as much as possible in case this was the real deal. I didn't really sleep over the next couple hours, and around 4 a.m. could tell that the contractions had gotten more intense. I woke Cory at 4:19, told him he had to get up and call the doctor, doula and our friend who was watching the kids. Our friend was over within minutes and we headed out the door because I had to really concentrate through the contractions. We made it to the hospital, got up to the labor and delivery room, changed into a gown and then my water broke. I headed over to the bed to squat since that's the only way I could make it through contractions this time around, felt like pushing with that first contraction at the bed and suddenly felt the head. The doctor and doula weren't here yet and the two nurses started scrambling to help deliver the baby. I was on hands and knees on the bed and delivered Tylan with the next push or two (can't recall). One of the nurses exclaimed that she'd never done this before, so I was able to be the talk of the hospital.

We made it back home this morning around 10:30 a.m. and were so happy to be out of the hospital. For the most part the staff was terrific, although they had Tylan at the nursery for longer than I preferred a few times. The kids and Cory all slept over in the room last night. All of the kids were so excited to meet their sister and can't stop running over to her and kissing her, patting her head, holding her, etc. Ella has turned out to be the most protective, which really surprises me. She's pushed Cole away a couple times when she feels he's getting too close. It was hard for her to not have Tylan and myself come along when Cory would take the kids away from the hospital, but it was even harder the few times the nurses took Tylan out of the room. She sobbed and sobbed.

Thankfully we're all home and together now. Ella is taking a much needed nap, and Cole and Accalia have been playing with the youngest neighbor girl on and off. Tylan is asleep in the sling right now. She loves the sling and already seems to prefer being put in it to nurse and go to sleep. She's had a lot of alert and awake periods where she just takes in all of the voices around her, and the kids love that.

Tylan's name was chosen because Tylan is the name of one of the members of the band Girlyman, which Cory and I love. Addison is a tribute to Wrigley Field, as it's one of the streets that intersects at the Cubs' stadium.

Here's Tylan mid yawn.


An ecstatic big brother.


A very happy biggest sister.


The first time big sister.