WELCOME LITTLE MAN!!

The long and winding road has finally led us here...Nicholas and I that is! My water broke on Sunday, December 13, at 3:30 am! Although I hadn't started contractions we decided to go to the hospital anyways...we are first timers :) They of course started monitoring me and that lasted for about 20 minutes until they ran 3 tests to make sure my water did break...I mean there was no other reason for me to wet the bed!! So of course we started calling everyone...I'm on the phone with Nick's Mom, Evelyn (Nana).

After confirming that my water did in fact break, the nurse said I had "bought a room" so we moved in and got comfy. We had no idea that as long as I was progressing with each check, meaning I was another cintemeter, they would let me continue along. So I did have an epidural around 5cm which meant I couldn't get up anymore...then around 10pm I was at 9cm and the doctor decided to give me pitocin to get to that 10th cm...and of course I got to 10cm. I started to push around 11pm and kept pushing for 2 1/2 hrs...then at 1:30am on Monday, December 14, the doctors decided a c-section was the only way the baby was going to come. I was in a lot of pain and in the OR we discovered my epidural was no longer working and I could feel my stomach, legs, etc. This then led them to put me under completely with general anesthesia.

Nick was ready to come into the OR but when they found out my epidural was not working and they were going to use the general anasthesia he was not allowed (breathing a sigh of relief and telling Mom his legs were already weak thinking about it)...so he and Mom were waiting patiently in the room.

And their patience paid off with this big, little bundle. Julius Grey: 8lbs. 8oz. 22in.

What can you say about this... :)

After Julius was done with his testing the corpsman handed him to Nick and said "Good Luck"...then everyone left the room :)

Nick and Granny getting some time with Julius while I was still in surgery. Granny came to recovery with me and Nick stayed with Julius...

I didn't get wheeled down until about 4:30am. I was soooo EXCITED!!!

He is everything and more!!

He is very hungry too...

First bath! Everything was done in our room so I did get to see it!!

Granny with Julius, a.k.a. number 9 :)

A little blurry but I like it.

Daddy cuddling with Julius...Granny was I'm sure enjoying a nice sleepful night...I was walking around getting back into the swing.

Daddy bought Mommy flowers and Julius a cute little beaver, he loved it! :)

This is kind of like Julius's "ugly hospital picture" because this hospital didn't offer them.

Going home...Wednesday, December 16.

Granny surprised us with a cute welcome...warm chocolate-chip cookies too!

His travel attire...he did not enjoy being put in the carseat by the way!

Here we are and honestly I would have stayed in the hospital just for three meals a day and a bed that moved up and down :)

Wow!! It is so great to have Julius here and we are so greatful for his safe arrival!

Thanksgiving, Christmas Trees, and 38 Weeks Pregnant

Thanksgiving was lots of fun! Nick got to play football with the guys from church. I got to cook Thanksgiving for two: turkey breast, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, biscuits, cherry pie (for me), apple pie (for Nick), and pumpkin pie (just because). Sadly I forgot the sweet potatoes. We are very greatful for the wonderful meal we had and for the time we got to spend together!



The Saturday after Thanksgiving we decided to go Christmas tree hunting at a local nursery and we found these guys looking big and handsome!

We found a Christmas tree too! Nick and I both think it looks as though we could have gone out in the woods and chopped it down...that's why we like it :)

And here I am at 38 weeks! Thank goodness you can't see my ankles, lol!

Oh the Places We'll Go...and end up!

We both woke up this morning with one thought: our LAST day! Whew! On one hand it was a long drive and on the other it went by way too fast! We were excited to get started, so after our continental breakfast, we got on the road. We didn't have far to go before we passed into Idaho, with that came Pacific Time. We are now 4 hours behind the east coast! We were only in Idaho for about an hour and a half, passing through Coeur d'Alene and into Washington!!! We had quite a few hours ahead of us once in Washington. We stopped for lunch at a Burger King and we actually sat inside the restaurant! The dogs had been on our little walk at the Columbia River so we decided they would survive in the car for a few minutes while we ate. We continued on our way and arrived at our destination around 4:30pm. Nicholas was very excited to see us and the dogs!

We woke up to a very foggy morning in Montana. It was into some big mountains after this!

We got to pull over on I90 for our picture!! While we were paying attention to the weather, we didn't think to put our coats on so we are laughing because of how unbelievably cold and WINDY it suddenly was!

We needed to stop for gas and this little town called Wallace was nestled between the mountains and under the highway, literally! I90 ran over the town on stilts!

Here we are!! We decided to just take the picture of the road sign and keep on truckin'. After all, we don't have any more states between us and the Pacific Ocean.



Dad let me take the wheel here in my new home state and this is what I saw...absolutely nothing :) I really got worried after this went on for over an hour!


The Columbia River had this beautiful lookout point. We were surprised by it and didn't know that it would be such a pretty area! We had a good time walking around with the dogs and looking at the river which was way down below us! The picture of us together was quite a feat...I had to run a pretty good distance! After enjoying the view for a minute we picked up some rocks for Mom and got on our way.

We thought we had left the turbines back in Iowa!

So the tunnel is on our side of the highway with trees on top of it and everything...just neat!

Evergreen trees...it smells like Christmas year round!
So we say goodbye to I90...we got on WA18 after about 1,628 miles on I90! We started on I90 back in Minnesota so we got a little attached! Something funny about I90 that I forgot to mention, when we were passing through the mountains there were signs at all of the exits that read: If I90 closed return to ______. (here it would have the last exit or town we had passed). I guess I90 closes and you are out of luck!

Silverdale...where Nicholas and I (and Julius) will be living for the next 3 years.

Here is our Washington picture! It was so nice to be out of the car, even though the hotel beds were much more comfortable than what we had waiting for us here! We found the nearest Wal-mart and Dad bought us a few things to survive on, for example: card table w/ 4 chairs and pots (which he cooked us some spaghetti in, yum!), towels, sheets, etc. Dad stayed for 2 days and found several things that we had to report to housing (that's what Dads are for!) and then he was off for N.C. again...at least this time it would only take about 6 hours!

This was by far the best trip I have ever been on! Dad and I are so greatful that we didn't have any mishaps and I'm especially greatful that Dad was willing to go on this trip with me! Hope you all enjoyed our adventure as much as we did!

Oh the Places We'll Go...day 4

Wow! We have just 3 more states until Washington!! We of course had continental breakfast, but considering the small hotel we stayed in, there wasn't a whole lot to choose from. The doughnut holes put out in tupperware containers weren't too bad...just strangely packaged. We woke up this morning early and set out by 6:30am. It was still dark and foggy! We crossed into Mountain Time near Pierre, SD.

Our first road sign that we actually got to stop on the road and take the picture! We only got to do this because I wasn't fast enough with the camera so we passed the sign...luckily there was an exit just up the road and along with it was a small road that ran alongside the highway all the way back to the sign! So we drove back, put the camera on the hood and snapped the picture...the dogs are getting used to these strange little adventures!

When we found an exit with a Wal-mart we pulled off to get our t-shirts! This statue was at a red light and Sanford did NOT like him! We thought it was pretty cool though! While we were walking the dogs at Wal-mart it started to SNOW!! That's an exciting occurence for a girl from NC :)

Even though it was snowing, it wasn't sticking. I'm sure this snow was from a previous snow fall, but still pretty!

We were impressed with the hills and valleys! Those look like snow clouds Mom! :)

Thanks to I90 being empty, we were able to stop at the actual road sign to take our picture! Sanford is at least getting the hang of looking at the truck :) Dad had to buy a beanie at the Wal-mart and I had to put my coat on!! I suppose if I had been really prepared I would have had some kind of sticker to put on the sign...I wonder what they said...I didn't notice them until I looked at the picture later.

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument: Memorial of the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne in one of the Indians last armed efforts to preserve their way of life. Here on June 25, 1876, 263 soldiers and attached personnel of the U.S. Army, including Lt. Col. George A. Custer, died fighting several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. (http://www.nps.gov/libi/index.htm)
These cliffs made me think of Mom! That's really what all of the mountains, hills, valleys, etc. made me think of...

We watched this plateau growing bigger and bigger as we came closer to it!

Whoa! So, if you return to the day 1 post you will notice quite a difference in size from the Appalachian Mtns. I know Mom, the Appalachians are older :)

This rainbow was just a big chunk coming out of the clouds and reaching down to the ground. These things were what made the trip exciting...weather, mountains, old houses (later on), etc.

See...the abandoned homesteads were really cool! All we could talk about was what happened to them, why they were empty. Of course the new and improved homestead in the distance could explain it. It's still neat to think about the history of these places!

Another very large mountain with SNOW! :)

Mom I posted this for you! The sun was beginning to go down so it was kind of hard to get a clear picture. This is a very large quarry in the side of the mountain...

This is what we assume they did with the reject from the quarry...just filled in the valley on the other side of the mountain! Crazy, huh?!

And one final mountain before it's too dark and the camera will only focus on headlights...

Our lunch today was in Montana, at a gas station :) There was an Arby's inside but the gas station had more to choose from, so Dad had a salad and I got a hot dog. The dogs were of course tied outside for a little bit while we ate in the cold! Something funny that we noticed, casinos everywhere! Inside the gas station!!

Much to Katie's dismay we did not stop in Butte, MT. We drove to Missoula and slept in a nice Broadway Inn and Suites (pet friendly!). We had McDonalds for dinner and were pretty tired after driving for over 800 miles today! I owe a lot to Dad, he did the majority of the driving! He claims it was so I could take pictures...hmm. It was definitely a long day but fun at the same time! Only one state between us and Washington!