Elijah Thomas Atkin - Day 1

We're so happy to announce the safe arrival of our newest little boy.  It took us a day to decide on a name for him but we settled on Elijah Thomas Atkin.  Here's his birth story...

We arrived at the hospital at 11:30am for the c-section which was scheduled for 1:30pm.  I had gotten up to eat at 4:30am and had been fasting after that.  When we got there, they let us know that they were behind schedule so we might be waiting awhile.  I got pretty hungry but we killed time by talking and watching some Law & Order until they finally sent me back into surgery a little after 4pm.  Everything went really well after that.  The surgery prep part is never fun, when you're basically naked in the cold operating room while people are buzzing around doing things to your body to get you ready.  At one point after they gave me the epidural I felt like my chest was so heavy and was having a hard time breathing.  That is normal, I guess, and I soon felt better.  Then, they let Joe come in and that helped me relax more. 

Joe had a goal of filming the whole surgery and he basically did.  He obediently stopped when I told him to make sure and get still pictures of when Eli was coming out.  I loved the ones we had from when Nate was born.  I will spare you the ones of Eli getting pulled out since they are pretty bloody but they are really cool. 

 Here's our handsome little guy

 

My first thought was that he looked so small--smaller than I was expecting.  He did end up being smaller than Nate at 6 lb 5 oz and 19 inches long.

 

 Joe got to cut the cord for the first time:

 

I can't describe how excited and relived I was to see that he was healthy.  For some reason I had had all these fears that something was going to go wrong with the baby but he was healthy and super-alert.  He just laid there for quite awhile with his eyes open taking everything in.  

I couldn't stop watching him and silently praying "thank you" over and over again that he was healthy.

Getting to kiss my baby finally:

  

Later on, in the recovery room:

After a late surgery, Joe and I were both exhausted by the time we got into our room.  We couldn't decided on a name yet.  That first night was long for me.  Elijah was awake a lot and I was so exhausted.  At the same time, it was a really wonderful night, too.  I loved just getting to know my little baby.  Here are some pictures I took in the middle of the night:

Natalie turns 6

Our little Natalie is just getting bigger and bigger.  In fact, I don't think she would like me to call her little Natalie any more.  We had fun celebrating her birthday.  First, I took her out of school to go out to lunch the day before her birthday.  Of course she chose McDonald's.  It was pouring down rain that day but we had fun. 

 This guy got to tag along:

Her birthday was full of putting up Christmas decorations, making her cake and birthday dinner, and getting our Christmas tree.  It was a fun day. 

Natalie drew the design for this cake almost a month ago.  She envisioned everything--including the M&M rainbow and chocolate chip border.  She even frosted her name on it:

 

Then it was present time:

That card Natalie is reading said this:

Definitely scan-worthy :)

Elizabeth managed to sneak and get her the doll pictured below.  Natalie saw it at DI and really wanted it.  Elizabeth insisted on buying it for her and it was cute watching her try to keep it a secret.

Natalie is still such a joy.  She is very much a peacemaker and can often be found doing one of her sibling's jobs for them if they are upset about having to do it.  She is a middle child and sometimes gets frustrated when she feels she is not being listened to or getting the attention she needs.  We need to be better about that.  

She is doing great after her big jump to 1st grade.  She even brought home a math test the other day that she had gotten a 100% on.  She has a talent for spelling.  We were disappointed when we found out the school's spelling bee was only for grades 3-6.  They both would have done great.  The girls always want us to give them words to spell and Natalie has surprised us with some of the words she has gotten right.  She still loves to read and draw.  She also loves riding her new scooter.  She is doing great in her piano lessons and still loves to try and figure out different songs by ear, too.  She loves to tell jokes.  Right now she says she wants to be a professional soccer player when she grows up.

I love this Christmas picture she drew the other day...

We love you, Natalie!

Big Giant Blog Catch-Up: Our House

Here is a little tour of our house and some of the projects that have been occupying me the last couple of months...

 When you walk in the front door, you enter the living room/dining area.  This area is pretty sparse and probably will be that way for awhile.  We have the piano, our dining table and our new Ikea map that we love.  That's it.  That living room was supposed to be a gray color but ended up light blue.  I actually don't mind it, though, especially with the map now since I think it goes well with the colors of those rooms.

 

Next you enter the kitchen...

 

 Those stools were a labor of love.  I found them for cheap on craig's list and sanded and painted them.  Unfortunately, they are already chipping in spots.  I guess I'm not quite the DIY-er that I thought I was.

Here's the family room...

 You might notice the stocking with no name on it.  Still no name for this boy.  Any ideas for what to put in those indented spots on the wall?  I have three of them to fill.   Two that you can see and another in the hallway behind.  At least for now the Christmas tree covers them sort of....

Speaking of our tree, here is a picture I found that Elizabeth took of it all lit up...

I made some throw pillows for our couches finally.  I think I had bought that fabric about a year and half ago.

 

I am trying to be very deliberate about what we put up on our walls, especially after painting everything.  It pains me to make holes.  I got on a spray painting kick and painted a bunch of our frames white... 

 

I also got some chalkboard paint and made this out of a magnet board I had.  It's our new quote board at the bottom of our stairs. 

A quick shot of our 4th bedroom--the guest bedroom...

The guest bathroom....

The sunroom....

This is the loft/playroom at the top of the stairs...

Here's the boys' room (once the little boy is big enough)....

And here's the girls' room....

 I made those clouds to hang in the corner but one just won't stay up.  Elizabeth made that sun in school.  I haven't done much to either of the kids' rooms.  

I'm skipping the master bedroom for now.  It's messy and a little bit full with the recliner and the portacrib set up in there.  I think we're ready for this baby to come.

Big Giant Blog Catch-Up: Culture Nights

So, after my grand plans back in this post, our Atkin Family Culture Nights haven't been quite as consistent or grandiose as I had hoped.  Still, I'm holding on tight to this tradition so it doesn't fade into oblivion.  Back in August we had our Greenland night.  

Here was the spread:

 Magnificent, right?  

I'm not entirely to blame for the lack of authenticity.  It is hard to come by caribou and things like that around here.  So, we had salmon and cheated by having two green foods--broccoli and mashed potatoes dyed green.  We did have Kalaallit Kaagiat (Greenlandic cake--recipe found here) for dessert.

But, it was these duct tape viking hats that were the saving grace of the night:

Here they are making their best scary viking faces:

I think Natalie also dressed as a whale and Elizabeth as a polar bear.  Not sure why Natalie's pants are on backwards though. :) 

Nate chose China for our next one and we lucked out when we moved into our new ward and found out they were hosting a Moon Festival.  It was a lot of fun.  Great food and some fun games.  Sadly, I only have one picture from the night.  

Here are the girls watching the fear factor-like food challenge.  

They had these gray duck eggs, pigs' feet and something else I can't remember.  It was intense.  

If I hadn't been pregnant I would have been in on that. 

Maybe. :)

Big Giant Blog Catch-Up: Fall

Why is it so hard to update this blog lately?  I'm not sure.  We've had a lot going on, like always I guess.   I've had some major blog-writer's-block.   But, I'm feeling the time crunch since we're down to t-10 days until this baby boy arrives.  The c-section is set for Dec. 14th!  I still can't believe it.  We can't wait to meet him, though.

Here's a big catch-up post of our fall...

The kids talked me into making a wreath out of our leaves.  

It turned out pretty nice, even if it only lasted for a day:

Local wildlife:

 Those last two were at the school Harvest Festival.

Our pumpkins!

 (L to R) Nate's, Natalie's, Elizabeth's, Joe's and mine 

(we carved the kids' pumpkins from their drawings)

We took a trip to a small local pumpkin patch.  It ended up being pretty perfect for our kids.

I found this paper Natalie had written on after we got home about how she wants to live on a farm someday.  I guess we've got country-loving kids.  Too much of their father in them. :)

 Can I also just say again that I can't be held responsible for the way my kids are dressed?  Their new thing is to wear all the same color and it kind of drives me nuts.  I try to bite my tongue as much as is humanly possible.

The costumes:

 This was the first year the girls both tried to go for scary costumes.  I couldn't have been happier about the ghost idea, though.  Can it get easier than that?  Elizabeth insisted on just the eye holes and Natalie wanted her whole face cut out. Nate wanted to be a dinosaur and that one from Target was the best I could find.  He wasn't thrilled about it but at least he wore it.  They all came home with gobs of candy so I guess it was a successful night.

One weekend, we got our whole house painted.  They came in Friday morning and were done by Monday night.  We (well, I) decided on a whim that we should go camping while we were out of the house.  It might have been a bit crazy but it ended up being such a fun trip.  It was our first time camping by ourselves as a family.  We kept it pretty simple.  We went to a church-owned camp in the Santa Cruz mountains and it was perfect for us--gorgeous surroundings, not too cold, running water and toilets.  Can't beat that.

The kids were in camping heaven:

 Here we are getting ready to go on our hike:

Nate hitched a ride most of the way but the girls stuck it out on a pretty difficult hike.  

We were all proud when we made it back to camp.

S'mores!

Back at home again and jumping in the leaves: