Welcome Kiara Jane Bingham!

Well everyone- the newest member of our family has arrived! And boy, did she keep us on our toes all day. Technically, Alyx was in labor for about 18 hours- she arrived to the hospital at 6 a.m. to be induced on Monday morning.  I got the girls off to school and headed there about 9:30.  By that time, she was starting to have some pretty good-sized contractions.. enough to make her shed a few tears. So, she decided to go with the epidural.  After that, life was just peachy again :) We kinda hung out all day- Stephen's family was there and we all watched TV, ate snacks, laughed with Alyx, braided her hair, etc.  I brought the girls back later to see her and that's when about 10 other people showed up so it was super chaotic.  By about 8 p.m. she started really getting good contractions again and was dilated to about a 7.... slow going!

All in all, she finally picked up the pace and was finally dilated and ready to push by about midnight.  At this point, I got to support one leg and Stephen got the other :) She pushed for about 2 hours and did soooo amazingly fantastic- even laughed through about the first 45 minutes- then everything got quite painful and serious, and at 1:50 a.m. on the 23rd of October....sweet Kiara Jane popped out into the bright world.  She is huge!! Seriously- Alyx would've had a C-section if they had any guess she would be... 9 lb 12 oz! And 21 inches long.  Ooof!! Poor Alyx had to get quite a few stitches, and she and Kiara had a fever, so they were put on antibiotics and will be in the hospital until probably Friday.  Things are going great now and they are looking fantastic! Alyx is super woman- she's been up and showering and cleaning her hospital room, changing diapers, wandering around the unit, you name it.  I can tell she's ready to get out of there though- thanks to everyone for all the love and support and well wishes and phone calls! Love you all- can't wait until you can all hold her.  Oh, and of course Calli and Teags are being excellent little aunties to her- they cannot wait until she can play with them.  Here's the pics!

Pres Debate Lip Reading

Don't you think this is a great quote? Love it....

My favorite time of year- watching the leaves change, crisp fall air, and lots and lots of soup making! 

The kids' attempt at catching a peep of the full moon.

They borrowed my camera and left me some cute surprise pics 

Ah fall....loving this weather.  We are enjoying watching Calli play soccer a few nights a week- only a couple more games to go.  It's amazing how she has changed in her playing since she was 5 (not quite as worried about her ponytail flipping the right way, and definitely not so afraid to get rough and tumble- it's co-ed this year, so she has to put up with boys :) She's a soccer star this year! Middle school is going great so far- Calli already went to her 6th grade camp- Trail Creek- and loved it! I think it's a great way for all these kids to merge with the other schools and make so many new friends.  Teags is going to start tennis after soccer is over- I can't wait to watch that! I am making some very big changes in my life as well- I am now almost finished registering for.....college! again....this endeavor is my last hopefully- on my way to becoming a FNP (family nurse practitioner).  I will be doing a 4-year RN course and then hopefully have a couple years after that to be completely done- so excited!!