Oh My Cuteness!

Here are some proofs of Kaitlin's baby photo shoot. I am just in love with this cutie!

http://dpickettphotography.blogspot.com/2010/11/baby-k.html

For my mom: here are pictures of Corynn's craft table.

http://creatingcorynn.blogspot.com/2010/05/cutting-table.html

"Only Cool People Carve Turnips"

I married a nerd. But, he is one awesome guy so I guess he is excused for his nerdy tendencies. The title of this post is a direct quote from Mike while we were carving pumpkins this year. Every year as part of his Halloween party in his classroom, he tells the folk tale of how jack-o-lanterns came to be. He also gives a little bit of the history of carving pumpkins. As we were carving pumpkins this year, we got to hear the story and a little bit of the history.

Apparently, in Europe it used to be more popular to carve turnips!
Mike bought a turnip to show to his students and since we had it around, he decided to carve it.
We all tried it and it is pretty good. Emma kept stealing the pieces that were carved out to eat.
Man I love those dimples!!!

We did carve regular pumpkins too. We were lucky enough to have Grandma West with us to celebrate Halloween and help take care of Kaitlin.

I think the caption for this picture should be: Ree! Ree! Ree! Ree! (Think Psycho.)

I strayed from the traditional pumpkin this year and had Anya "help" me using a spoon to take out the pieces of pumpkin.
Happy Halloween!

A Day in the Life

A day in the life of the Chipmans is never complete without tackling daddy a few times.


What a cutie!

Baby Kaitlin

We have a new baby! Kaitlin Elizabeth Chipman was born last Monday at 4:51 am. She was 7 lbs 6 oz and 20 3/4 inches. The birth was so smooth, I feel quite lucky and spoiled. I was having slight contractions all day, but nothing serious so I decided to walk up and down my stairs a million times. When that didn't work, I resolved to get ready to teach the next day and the second I got my lesson plans done and ready, my water broke (about 11:30pm). We went into crazy mode and got to the hospital in plenty of time. It turns out my water only ruptured. I was at a 6 when we got there so my two worst fears came to naught. I made it to the hospital in time (we live 1/2 hour away) and I wasn't turned away once we got there (we didn't know what we would do because we live so far away. Probably walk around the mall for a while.)

A couple of hours and an epidural later, Kaitlin joined our family. The guy who gave me the epidural reminded me so much of my older brother Lance. They looked and talked alike and they even have similar mannerisms. As strange as it might sound, it was comforting. Like in some strange way, the brother I always looked up to was kind of there. It made me feel happy and peaceful. Or maybe that was the drugs talking.

Kaitlin has brown hair, darker skin than Emma and Anya and a dimple just like Anya's. She is a great sleeper during the day and she is usually really calm when she is awake. Nursing has been easier with her than with the other two, she was a natural and latched on right away in the hospital. I was completely amazed because I remember a lot more stress involved previously.

I can't get enough kisses from her. You forget how soft their skin is and she doesn't squirm away like Ms Anya always does. It's funny the things you forget when they are new: how the car seat swallows them whole, checking to make sure they are breathing when they are napping, that tiny little newborn cry, snuggles with someone who isn't a wiggle worm - I just love it.

Mike is already completely smitten with her. They will just sit together and snuggle when he gets home from work. I am sorry to say, but with three adorable little girls, he is just in for it because he just loves to spoil us.

The labor was very fast, the nurse had me try to push and stopped me immediately because she wanted to get the doctor. Kaitlin was ready! He was only in the room for about 20 minutes. Which, I am sure he appreciated because we woke him up from a nap.

Mike brought the girls to see her later that afternoon. They both looked exhausted and Anya was a little hesitant. But, only a few days later, they both really love their baby sister.

When we were talking about Kaitlin coming, Emma had a hard time with the fact that Anya was going to be a big sister. I had to assure her that she would always be the biggest sister no matter how many kids we have.

I love my little girls!!!!!!!!!

After seeing this picture, I got really overwhelmed because it looks like so many people and we are out numbered . . . I think we might make it, maybe.

What have we been up to?

It's been a while since our last post of what we are currently up to. I guess that comes with the territory when school is just starting. We haven't been up to much:

• Mostly just hanging out.

• We've started venturing outside since the temp has only been in the 90's.
• We've done a lot of snuggling and movie time since mommy is a little uncomfortable waiting for baby to come.
• The girls have found ways to amuse themselves independently. Anya made a train with her snack.
• We've been growing up. Anya got moved into a big girl bed in preparation to be a big sister. She has been doing really well except for the night that I found her running back from the toy room at 10:30 pm to try to jump in bed before mommy caught her.

• Emma started gymnastics. She was moved up a class the week after she got there because she is doing so well. The coach says she is very strong. I was concerned about her craziness, but the coach says it is great. She said, "We don't need gymnasts who think, we need gymnasts who do." I think Emma might fit into that category just fine. We were really proud of her last week. She can climb up the climbing rope like a little monkey. They split the class in two teams and had a time limit to see how many times they could climb the climbing rope. Emma wanted to get down faster from the rope and so she slid down with the rope under her arm and ended up with a nasty ropeburn. Even though, she was hurting a lot, she kept going until the challenge was over in order to help her team.