Claire LeAnn

On July 24th at 11:32a.m. weighing 7lbs 6oz and 20 in. long Claire was born. I know it has taken me 3 weeks to post this, I've been procrastinating.
First how she got her name, Adam and I both just really liked the name Claire and LeAnn was supposed to be my middle name. It is my dad's middle name Leland and my mom's middle name Ann put together. But when my dad filled out my birth certificate he decided to make my middle name Diane. Which my mom was not happy about. Anyways when we were trying to come up with a middle name, my family suggested LeAnn and we really liked it.
On July 23rd I was just over 38 weeks pregnant and was feeling pretty good just tired of being swollen, and feeling huge. I was dilated to a 3 already and was ready to have her. It had been over 100 degrees and humid for weeks here and being 9 months pregnant made it that much worse. So I decided on that day to go to the chiropractor and get adjusted then I had eaten spicy food the past couple of days, I also took caster oil (which I had never done before) then I bounced a little bit on the trampoline. That night our branch had a party at a park and we decided to go. It was 104 degrees outside and we were outside for a couple of hours. We then decided to walk on some trails. As you can see I did everything I could to start labor. We got home at 9 pm and I laid with Ellie and fell asleep with her. At 10:30 Adam woke me up to come to bed. I started having contractions and they felt different then my normal braxton hicks. I laid there for awhile and then told Adam I was having contractions every 3 minutes apart. So it was now 11 pm and we decided that we should go to the hospital since it was 45 minutes away. Since we are new here we didn't know anybody to watch the girls so we got them out of bed and took them with us. We called Adam's brother who was going to come to watch the girls to start driving because it was a 2 hour drive. We got to the hospital around midnight and they said I was dilated to a 4. They didn't want to admit me but didn't want to send me home since I lived so far away so they told me to walk around for 2 hours and come back. The girls had been awake so I told Adam to take them to the van and let them sleep while I walked around the hospital. After 2 hours Adam's brother got to the hospital to take the girls home and Adam and I went back to see if they would admit me. They said they would. I was relieved. I wasn't progressing that fast so they told me to keep walking. With my other girls I was induced and everything was quick and easy so this was weird going into labor by myself and then having to walk to keep my contractions going. I didn't understand why the doctor just wouldn't give me pitocin. So I was up all night long. Finally at 7 am the doctors changed and the new doctor walked in and said to me this is your baby and your labor what do you want me to do. I was so happy I told him I would like pitocin. They started me on that and then a couple hours later was ready for an epidural. Unfortunately it took them another hour before I got it and by then I was in pain. I was feeling comfortable after I got it and fell asleep. At around 10:45am I woke up to move a little and felt a gush. My water broke. I had never had my water break on its own, so that was weird. Right after that I told my nurse that I was feeling my contractions. For some reason when my water broke my epidural stopped working and for the next 30 minutes I felt all of my labor. Let's just say it was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life and I was begging the doctor and nurses to just give me more medicine, but they wouldn't. I never want to experience that again. Finally I felt her coming and pushed twice and she was out. It had been a long night and was a really different labor experience from my other girls. I was really surprised how little she was, she is my smallest baby. She never cried and we didn't hear her cry until she was 2 days old. I was able to come home only a day after having her which I was really grateful for. The girls came up on Saturday to see me and Claire. They loved seeing her and holding her. They have adjusted really well to having a new baby in the family and have been big helps to us. I feel really good and am recovering quickly. We feel so blessed to have this sweet new spirit in our family.

Claire LeAnn

On July 24th at 11:32a.m. weighing 7lbs 6oz and 20 in. long Claire was born. I know it has taken me 3 weeks to post this, I've been procrastinating.
First how she got her name, Adam and I both just really liked the name Claire and LeAnn was supposed to be my middle name. It is my dad's middle name Leland and my mom's middle name Ann put together. But when my dad filled out my birth certificate he decided to make my middle name Diane. Which my mom was not happy about. Anyways when we were trying to come up with a middle name, my family suggested LeAnn and we really liked it.
On July 23rd I was just over 38 weeks pregnant and was feeling pretty good just tired of being swollen, and feeling huge. I was dilated to a 3 already and was ready to have her. It had been over 100 degrees and humid for weeks here and being 9 months pregnant made it that much worse. So I decided on that day to go to the chiropractor and get adjusted then I had eaten spicy food the past couple of days, I also took caster oil (which I had never done before) then I bounced a little bit on the trampoline. That night our branch had a party at a park and we decided to go. It was 104 degrees outside and we were outside for a couple of hours. We then decided to walk on some trails. As you can see I did everything I could to start labor. We got home at 9 pm and I laid with Ellie and fell asleep with her. At 10:30 Adam woke me up to come to bed. I started having contractions and they felt different then my normal braxton hicks. I laid there for awhile and then told Adam I was having contractions every 3 minutes apart. So it was now 11 pm and we decided that we should go to the hospital since it was 45 minutes away. Since we are new here we didn't know anybody to watch the girls so we got them out of bed and took them with us. We called Adam's brother who was going to come to watch the girls to start driving because it was a 2 hour drive. We got to the hospital around midnight and they said I was dilated to a 4. They didn't want to admit me but didn't want to send me home since I lived so far away so they told me to walk around for 2 hours and come back. The girls had been awake so I told Adam to take them to the van and let them sleep while I walked around the hospital. After 2 hours Adam's brother got to the hospital to take the girls home and Adam and I went back to see if they would admit me. They said they would. I was relieved. I wasn't progressing that fast so they told me to keep walking. With my other girls I was induced and everything was quick and easy so this was weird going into labor by myself and then having to walk to keep my contractions going. I didn't understand why the doctor just wouldn't give me pitocin. So I was up all night long. Finally at 7 am the doctors changed and the new doctor walked in and said to me this is your baby and your labor what do you want me to do. I was so happy I told him I would like pitocin. They started me on that and then a couple hours later was ready for an epidural. Unfortunately it took them another hour before I got it and by then I was in pain. I was feeling comfortable after I got it and fell asleep. At around 10:45am I woke up to move a little and felt a gush. My water broke. I had never had my water break on its own, so that was weird. Right after that I told my nurse that I was feeling my contractions. For some reason when my water broke my epidural stopped working and for the next 30 minutes I felt all of my labor. Let's just say it was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life and I was begging the doctor and nurses to just give me more medicine, but they wouldn't. I never want to experience that again. Finally I felt her coming and pushed twice and she was out. It had been a long night and was a really different labor experience from my other girls. I was really surprised how little she was, she is my smallest baby. She never cried and we didn't hear her cry until she was 2 days old. I was able to come home only a day after having her which I was really grateful for. The girls came up on Saturday to see me and Claire. They loved seeing her and holding her. They have adjusted really well to having a new baby in the family and have been big helps to us. I feel really good and am recovering quickly. We feel so blessed to have this sweet new spirit in our family.

Adam's Birthday!

Well Adam turned 29 this year! I can't believe it. On that day I had my first doctor's appt. at Fort Riley I was 36 weeks pregnant. Adam and the girls came with me. Then on the way home we went to Famous Dave's. I had never been there but Adam loves to go there. We had a good family dinner and then went home and he opened presents. It was a fun day. You can also see in the pictures how big I was.

Adam's Birthday!

Well Adam turned 29 this year! I can't believe it. On that day I had my first doctor's appt. at Fort Riley I was 36 weeks pregnant. Adam and the girls came with me. Then on the way home we went to Famous Dave's. I had never been there but Adam loves to go there. We had a good family dinner and then went home and he opened presents. It was a fun day. You can also see in the pictures how big I was.

Ellie's Birthday and the 4th of July weekend!

This year 4th of July weekend was really busy. It started on July 1st when we went to Wamego's carnival. They had rides, games and food. We had fun walking around and the girls played games and went on the carousel. Then we went to Kansas City on July 2nd and shopped. Then we went to Adam's parent's house where we stayed for the weekend. On Sat. July 3rd it was Ellie's 3rd birthday. We actually went to my nephew Braden's birthday party that morning. My sister-in-law had a ton of fun activities for the kids to do. It was a really fun party. Then we went to the hospital to visit Adam's Dad who had a heart attack and had a quadruple bypass. Then that night we let Ellie choose where we went for dinner and she chose Burger King. They are so easy to please at this age! Then Sunday we went to Church and Adam's siblings and there families came over and spent the day and we celebrated Ellie's birthday with a cake and opened presents. She got a power-wheel, a Dora backpack, and a few other things. She had a really fun day and loved spending it with family. On Sunday the 4th we were going to go watch a firework show but we had a really bad thunderstorm and nobody in our area had fireworks. This was the first year I haven't seen fireworks! On Monday my sister-in-law Shannon, Holly and I went and saw the movie Eclipse which I loved! I love being so close to family and being able to spend time with them.

Ellie's Birthday and the 4th of July weekend!

This year 4th of July weekend was really busy. It started on July 1st when we went to Wamego's carnival. They had rides, games and food. We had fun walking around and the girls played games and went on the carousel. Then we went to Kansas City on July 2nd and shopped. Then we went to Adam's parent's house where we stayed for the weekend. On Sat. July 3rd it was Ellie's 3rd birthday. We actually went to my nephew Braden's birthday party that morning. My sister-in-law had a ton of fun activities for the kids to do. It was a really fun party. Then we went to the hospital to visit Adam's Dad who had a heart attack and had a quadruple bypass. Then that night we let Ellie choose where we went for dinner and she chose Burger King. They are so easy to please at this age! Then Sunday we went to Church and Adam's siblings and there families came over and spent the day and we celebrated Ellie's birthday with a cake and opened presents. She got a power-wheel, a Dora backpack, and a few other things. She had a really fun day and loved spending it with family. On Sunday the 4th we were going to go watch a firework show but we had a really bad thunderstorm and nobody in our area had fireworks. This was the first year I haven't seen fireworks! On Monday my sister-in-law Shannon, Holly and I went and saw the movie Eclipse which I loved! I love being so close to family and being able to spend time with them.

Our new home

Adam and I had decided that we would like to purchase a home in Manhattan Kansas where we would be moving to. Well unfortunately it worked out that I would have to do it all by myself. We had to get a bunch of power of attorneys in order for me to do it all but I got pre-approved for a loan, found a realtor and started looking online at houses. I new I would have to go to Kansas to really look so I planned a trip the first week in March. This was the first time I have EVER been away from the girls overnight except for when I had Ellie! So I hated leaving them but they were in good hands with my parents. Thankfully Adam's family is in Kansas City area and my brother Ross and his wife Lindsay and there 2 boys. I asked Lindsay if she would go with me to Manhattan to look so that I would have somebody to bounce opinions off of. Manhattan is a 2 hour drive from Kansas City; she left Braden there oldest with her parents and brought Cashel who was 11 months old. We stayed in a hotel for 2 nights, so I only had 2 days to find a house. My realtor thankfully had everything lined up so we could see a bunch of houses. I new I wanted a 4 bedroom house that would be newer because of Adalyn's asthma and allergies. On our second day of looking she said a house had just come on the market in St. George KS which is a small town just 8 minutes outside of Manhattan. We went and looked at it and it was perfect. It is a ranch style home with a finished basement. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths. I love that there is a huge storage room downstairs and it's very spacious. It also has a tornado room with a steel door in the basement so that we can be protected. (Hopefully we never have to use it!) Anyways it had a fenced in backyard with a play set and a shed. One of the things I loved the most is that there is a new elementary school right across the street that I can see the playground from my front yard and walk Adalyn to school everyday! I just felt so strongly this was the house for us. I had to convince Adam a little bit because he wasn't here to see it in person but he finally said yes. (I actually thought it was a lot easier looking for a house without him because I just got what I wanted!) We put in an offer and a week later had a deal. We didn't close on the house until June 1st because we didn't need it until then but now we are all moved in and we able to buy a bunch of new furniture. Both of the girls got a bedroom set which I love. Adam and I have never had a bedroom set so we also got a king bedroom set. I love that we have been able to decorate and do whatever we want because it's our house (not the military's)
An interesting thing about living here is that we go to a branch it’s called the Wamego branch which is an awesome little town 5 minutes away. Our branch has about 80 to 100 people in it. They have been so welcoming and we have felt the spirit so strongly there. We meet in the back of a chinese restaurant! Yep, it's interesting but there is some vacant rooms between us and the church completely renovated the small space we have, so once your inside it looks like a church just very, very small. Adalyn loves her class and Ellie is very slowly adjusting to nursery (I sit with her) Adam this past week was called to be the young men's 1st counselor. There are about 45 primary kids, 8 young men, 8 young women. They have informed me that they have big plans for me but are waiting until I have the baby which should be in the next 2 weeks. So we'll see what happens. So far we love it here it is so green and beautiful.


Dining room and kitchen

Upstairs living room

Upstairs living room

Adalyn finally got her purple room.

Ellie and the new babies room.

Ellie's room

The girls bathroom.

Master bedroom.

Master bathroom

Basement family room.

The downstairs(basement) family room.

This is our downstairs(basement) guest bedroom. So come visit!!