Carson Miles Lysne's 1 week photo

He is such a good baby! The easiest I've had. He does not like his arms wrapped up in the blanket though!

The Brothers (April 24th, 2009)

Gabriel, Annalina, and Ross prayed for "Sprout". I can remember Annalina praying that Sprout would be "born alive" and Gabriel praying that Sprout would be "born healthy". Their prayers were answered despite some trying and scary times.

Carson Meets His Daddy and Siblings!! (April 24th, 2009)

I love these pictures! The kids were so thrilled with the arrival of there new brother! Annalina said the "having a baby is better than a doll because babies are cutier!" How true. Later on Ross told a lady that "Mommy got the baby from a doctor's appt" one of the older ladies in on the conversation told Ross "That is why I don't go to the doctor anymore!" Funny. Kids' thought processing is so fun.

I especially love Annalina's wide eye look in the picture above as she was handed Carson for the first time. She was more excited than she was at Christmas with her gifts!! She sits and sings and talks to Carson. Last night he was fussing and without being told went and took care of him.

From Black and White to Color . . . Carson Arrives!!

I woke up on the morning of April 24th at around 3:45 am with a contraction. I was still a bit groggy and Babe asked if I was alright when I finially woke up some we started timing the contractions (4am) and the contractions were about 6.5 minutes apart and at 4:15am they were 5.5 minutes apart. I thought they still seemed quite a distance apart and thought there was still a chance they may stop. I decided to get up and get some things done that needed attention if I was to leave I had hardly stood up (maybe a minute or 2) and the contractions dropped to 2 minutes apart and they were intense. I called my friend Sky at around 4:30am to come take care of the kids. She has been my minuteman in the last few months always ready at a moments notice! 

As we waited for her to arrive we were getting things ready and Annalina heard the commotion and woke up. We told her what was going on and even when she saw me having a contraction she never panicked. She was completely in control of herself and she thought we were leaving her in charge while we left to go to the hospital! When Brian came to check if she was doing things he had asked she looked at him and said "What are you doing?" She thought we were leaving! She was like a little Mommy ready to take charge. I was so proud of her!! I heard later that Ross when he woke up was uneasy but when Sky told him baby Sprout wanted to come out now!! He was a good sport.

Brian and I took off for St. Mary's Hospital in Reno which is over a hour away. Some of the way Brian was driving 85-90 miles per hour. The contractions intensified horribly and I told him to step on it because I could feel things happening!! We arrived at the hospital at approx. 6:30 and I was in the hospital bed around 6:50am. Two nurses checked me and both said there was no cervix and therefore I could have NO pain medication. I had a feeling that was coming but it still unnerved me. I am not a natural child birther! When I had Gabriel I had an epideral and they turned it off and I felt like I was being tortured while I delivered a 9 lb 8 oz Gabriel. I remember I just wanted to pass out needless to say the thought of going through with out pain meds was disturbing to make it worse the doctor was not there and they made me wait for him while I was fully dilated. I could not do any fancy breathing but I could scream through them!! The doctor arrived at approx. 7:20 and broke my water. Carson was born after 3 pushes at 7:34am. After his delivery the doctor really struggled to remove the placenta and that was very uncomfortable and it came out in 2 to 3 pieces. I ended up with delivering with no meds and a stage 2 epesiotomy (better than Gabriel's birth with a 4th degree). I know many women like to go the natural route but I am a wimp!! I must say though this is the quickest recovery I've EVER had and I wonder if it is due to the natural delivery and if so that was a nice thing to have. I have also lost 30 of 50 pounds I gained which is encouraging at 4 weeks since his delivery. (Heather if your reading this YOUR RIGHT about the feeding!) 

Now people have read my sob story about hard deliveries! :-) They were worth every bit of pain to have the children God has blessed me with.

Carson City Children's Museum (April 15th, 2009)

When we walked into this children's museum Babe and I thought it didn't look to exciting. The museum was about the size of a gymnasium separated into different booths but the kids LOVED, LOVED it here and we were happy about that! That was the point for them to have fun! They really did love the grocery store/kitchen to play in. That play area was decked out with lots of fun pretend toys!

Carson City Children's Museum (April 15th, 2009)

Top picture: Gabriel enjoyed figuring out with Daddy the amount of electricity we have in us. Gabriel had the most!! 

2 middle pictures: The kids had a blast playing in the pretend grocery store/resteraunt!!

last picture: Gabriel really like whatever you would call this! you moved some levers to keep the ball moving down to another level.

April 15th--Carson City Children's Musuem

Ross loved the dress up area where they had firemen dress up clothes and I had to wear a firemen's hat too!! Yes, the picture of Ross with a heavy set person behind him IS ME!! Yikes!! I gained 50 lbs with this pregnancy!! Anyway, the kids loved this musuem!! In the jail there was also a place that analyzed you figure print and told you what type of finger print you have. The kids that the jail cell was GREAT FUN!!

Annalina walking her Pony?!!! (April)

She is quite confident walking Sonja for how small she is and how BIG Sonja is!!!!

Super Mini-Vacation with Daddy . . . (April 8th, 2009)

After Brian flew in we spent the afternoon and night at a hotel in Reno so the kids could enjoy swimming with Daddy. They had a blast. Gabriel enjoyed shooting his water canon in Daddy's face many times!!

Daddy's Home!!!! (April 8th, 2009)

The day we have been waiting for for the last 7 months the return of Daddy to us!!! We got a special pass since Daddy was military and returning from a deployment and so we were able to meet him at the gate. 

The kids were THRILLED to have Daddy back and so was I. The kids were leery about letting him go back to work about a week and a half later!! They wanted to be sure he was returning to us!!!

Looking back over the path the Lord had us trod while he was gone it is emotional. There was so much that happened. In the end, He held our hands, wiped our tears, and gave us the energy to persevere. He has promised "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee" and He was faithful.

Carson Arrives

I am hoping to post pictures and write more later about Carson's birth and arrival. Annalina said having a baby was better than a doll because they are cuter than dolls. Gabriel and Ross when they walked into the hospital room asked me how I was feeling or doing. Each of them asked at different times it was very sweet. They are so thoughtful and love their mommy. Gabriel and Annalina were both disappointed I couldn't leave the hospital with them that night and I sure wish I could have too!!

I also just realized I haven't blogged about Brian coming home!!! Yikes, I am behind. We are so thankful to have him home with us. Being a complete family again is wonderful!!

The President and Prayer

I was watching the news a couple days ago and Ross again told me "That's Barak Obama" I agreed that it was and then I said "But he doesn't love God". Ross immediately said "We need to pray for him that he can love God".  Pretty amazing to think a 2 year old sees wisdom the that President of the United States doesn't!!